New Death Sensation

[Kao]

Genjutsu Training

Very little irritated Kotaru more than going to the library to study. He hated being among row after row of books in a stifling building, surrounded by old hags shushing people for the most minute of sounds. Despite his aversion for librarians and their natural habitat, the genin knew no other way to learn more about genjutsu. He found himself fascinated with the idea of turning someone’s mind against them, but he only knew the basics about illusion techniques. He knew about initiating genjutsu through the six senses, but he knew little else besides what he learned in the academy. Sure, he had been able to develop custom genjutsu techniques on his own, but to become a genjutsu specialist, he needed to learn more.

So with hunched shoulders and a languid gait, he climbed the stairs to one of Iwagakure’s libraries and began his search. He frowned when he realized how many books there were to choose from. There were entire books dedicated to illusion genjutsu initiated by touch. There were books about genjutsu that affected vision. Books about the best way to teach academy students the basics.

At first, Kotaru wasn’t sure where to start. The books about genjutsu weren’t even limited to one area. With an internal sigh, he walked towards the circulation desk. There were three librarians at the desk, two of them typically bespectacled and grey-haired. But there was one lady who seemed much younger, so the genin approached her. She had her head bowed, engrossed in her work, so Kotaru stood in front of her patiently until she noticed him. He was pleased when she smiled kindly rather than peer at him as if she was a particularly vexing book.

“Yes, may I help you?”

“I need books about genjutsu.”

The librarian blinked and closed her book, seemingly taken aback by Kotaru’s blunt request. He blinked, slowly, anticipating her response. The woman cleared her throat and asked him what exactly he was looking for. Kotaru paused, his eyes drifting upwards in speculation briefly, then said, “Advanced or lower-advanced illusion genjutsu and triggers.”

She nodded and pointed him in the right direction, and wrote down specific areas and call numbers for good measure. Kotaru thanked her as an afterthought and headed towards the area, which wasn’t far from where he had initially searched.

After perusing the titles, he grabbed a book that sounded like exactly what he was looking for: Genjutsu Applications for Intermediate Users. It was rather thick, and Kotaru sighed deeply when he slipped it off the shelf and checked it out.

When he stepped outside he cracked open the book and started reading. The first chapter seemed to be a summary of what he already knew about illusion techniques. The chapter described illusion genjutsu as the most commonly used jutsu, and the easiest type for beginners to learn. It went on to say that the illusions that the shinobi casts does not have to match the initiator. For example, it read, a genjutsu initialized by sound could produce a visual illusion.

Kotaru, becoming increasingly bored with the rather dry descriptions, climbed the side of the library and settled on the edge of the roof. With his legs dangling from the edge, he continued to read. It went on to describe the six senses and the various ways they could be manipulated and affected. Kotaru paused when it described using the enemy’s chakra sensory sense to initiate genjutsu. That sounded interesting, yet a difficult and niche initiator, and Kotaru made a mental note to search for books that specifically dealt with using such initiators.

He kept reading, fidgeting by kicking his legs. He didn’t want to read the chapter regarding sight initiations considering he already knew quite a bit about it, but he figured he might as well read the section in case he learned anything new. It described sight initiators as one of the easier initiators to use, and some common triggers. Eye contact, seeing the hand seals, or seeing specific actions were common triggers the book described. It also went on to explain that more difficult visual triggers would likely be used to initiate more powerful techniques.

Kotaru frowned. The genin used most of those visual triggers, but he didn’t particularly like them. They relied too much on the enemy to be paying attention to him and what he was doing. The genin felt that although enemies would want to keep him within sight in a battle, it would be much easier to use some kind of initiator that an enemy could avoid by merely looking away from him. He would much rather use initiators that could be used even before the enemy noticed him.

He flipped the page until he saw the title indicating a section about auditory initiators. It was an initiator that Kotaru had been considering learning to utilize but didn’t know much about, so he read the section with a bit more eagerness.

The book described the auditory initiators as by far the easiest initiator. Kotaru shrugged at those words; after all, “simple” didn’t mean “weak.” The book described clapping or whistling, which seemed like interesting and simple initiators that wouldn’t be difficult to use, so long as his hands or lips weren’t compromised.

He kept reading, and wasn’t completely surprised to read that sounds that lasted longer usually created stronger genjutsu. The book recommended a constant sound or an instrument to use stronger genjutsu with auditory initiators. Kotaru wasn’t too interested in playing instruments, but he didn’t want to rule it out. Perhaps something simple like a bell or some hand chimes would do the trick. It was a good idea, and he wasn’t deterred that he would have to keep ringing it in order to keep the genjutsu going.

He paused, wondering what kind of sound he would prefer to use for a sound initiating genjutsu. He liked the sound of chimes, and he was pretty sure that he had seen some nice hand chimes at the market that he could easily carry in a pouch or in a bag slung across his shoulders. His biggest concern at that moment wasn’t what he would use for the sound, but rather he was concerned about using something that could be easily carried and difficult to break.

He was intrigued by the idea, and he decided that he shouldn’t spend too much time fretting about what exactly he should use. He could figure that out later. Kotaru hummed to himself and continued to read.

He moved on to touch initiators. He had dabbled with touch initiators, but he hadn’t been successful in figuring out how to do it efficiently and effectively. Curious, he slowly read the section about touch. The book described touch initiators as relatively difficult to use in comparison to visual and auditory initiators. Kotaru had once tried to learn a genjutsu that required him to hit the target’s head, but he hadn’t quite gotten the hang of that technique.

Other touch based initiators, he read, could be things such as flicking an opponent’s forehead, hitting them with the weapon, or even making them hold an object. Kotaru chuckled at the latter, trying to imagine a situation in which he could get a target to hold something. It wasn’t entirely impossible, but it also wasn’t very practical. If he could get the hang of touch based initiations and develop a genjutsu like that, he imagined it would be pretty strong, especially if he could get the target to hold the object for an extended period of time. It seemed silly to the young shinobi, but he made a mental note of that kind of touch initiation. Perhaps he would be able to use it one day and ruin the mind of his target.

Fascinated, Kotaru continued to read about touch initiators. He was interested to know that although touch initiators required contact, the target did not actually have to feel the contact. His lips dipped into a surprised ‘o,’ and his gaze left the page and he started into the distance. This was complete news to him; he hadn’t though about the possibility that even a paralyzed target could be affected by touch initiated genjutsu. A small, sly smile crept into the boy’s lips and he dipped his eyes back to the page to learn more.

Touch initiation genjutsu could even be initiated by touching the target’s hair or clothes. They wouldn’t even know what hit them, in that case. Kotaru cackled and fell over, his legs kicking gleefully in the air. He thought of all the ways he could toy with someone’s head and senses by simply touching them, whether they felt the sensation or not. He would love to learn ways to paralyze opponents and then plunge them into genjutsu that they could neither discern the initiator nor stop.

I wonder if I could learn raiton techniques, he thought as he lifted himself back into an upright position. When he finished research, he decided, he would have to get a hold of some chakra paper to see if his chakra was compatible with learning raiton techniques. If so, Kotaru would have a lot of fun with learning new jutsu over the course of the next several months.

He was in a rather good mood after reading about touch initiators and had not noticed he had been reading for about two hours. But he continued, his interest in the topic getting the best of him. Taste initiators were next, and Kotaru only scanned that chapter. He didn’t think he would ever use taste initiators. It was the most difficult initiator, the book pointed out, which made complete sense. Not many shinobi would ever get the opportunity to even attempt a taste initiated genjutsu, and Kotaru was sure he would never be in that situation.

The book suggested a shinobi use a suiton technique to get liquid into the target’s mouth or even shoving a pill into their mouth. The Akari laughed at this, trying to imagine himself even getting close enough to a target to shove a pill into their mouth. It was laughable considering how he normally went about confronting opponents, so he completely disregarded taste based initiators as an option.

He skipped the rest of the chapter and continued on, coming across the section describing smell based initiators. He didn’t think he would use that method either, but he decided to read about it since it wasn’t the most difficult initiator to use. Smell, like hearing, was a bit difficult to avoid. The book pointed out that smell was perhaps even more difficult to avoid than hearing considering many shinobi were more likely to take precautions against sounds and not pay much attention to their sense of smell.

The chapter went on to say that shinobi could use either smells coming from their own person or from some other medium, such as salts. Kotaru frowned, quickly deciding he did not want to make himself smell a certain way, nor did he want to carry around oils and salts and hope someone would smell them so he could place them under genjutsu.

So far, the only initiators that interested Kotaru were sight, sound, and touch. Taste and smell seemed almost silly to try to use in most combat situations, and were probably more useful to shinobi who were skilled with infiltration. Kotaru certainly wasn’t interested in infiltration, and he wasn’t sure if he ever would be.

He put the book down and lied down on his back and stared up at the clouds. Infiltration never interested him, but the thought weighed heavy on his head. He was always someone who didn’t want to bring attention to himself and did his best to blend in, even if he had trouble doing so because of his small stature. Still, he thought, the fact that he worked so hard to blend in might actually help him if he decided to dabble in infiltration and stealth. He was small and could be light on his feet if he tried, so infiltration and stealth weren’t completely laughable in his case.

Kotaru sighed and put the book on top of his face. He had read a lot, and had learned a little. It was time for a nap.

2,060 words

[Kao]

Taijutsu Training

Kotaru woke from his nap with a crick in his neck. The boy groaned and stretched and took a quick look around to remember where he was, then scoffed when he recognized the barren, dirty roof of the library. The entire village was cloaked in the soft orange light of dusk, and the book he had checked out about genjutsu had found its way beneath his head as a makeshift pillow. That was, of course, the culprit behind the ache in the genin’s neck. He picked the book up and dusted it off, then tucked it under his arm.

As always, the genin wasn’t ready to go home. His parents were probably eating dinner, so he gave himself a few hours at least before he would head home. By that time they would be in their rooms, winding down for the night, and he didn’t have to be bothered with their cold glances and deep frowns.

In a single leap, he jumped off the building and landed in a crouch. The impact jolted his legs and he groaned. He knew he wasn’t physically strong, but he chastised himself for not being able to easily handle jumping off a mere three story building without feeling an effect. He quickly decided he should train, and he headed off in the direction opposite his parents’ house towards one of Iwagakure’s many training grounds.

He wasn’t surprised to see several shinobi, young and old, training there. That particular training ground was rather large, so finding a place to himself wouldn’t be difficult. He walked a bit, avoiding walking in anyone’s direct line of sight. Finally, he got to a secluded area that had a few bars and obstacles left lying around.

When he was sure he was alone, he channeled chakra to his shiin. When it fully inflated, three long, dark red tendrils protruded from his lower back. The melashiin waved languidly behind him. Kotaru moved one in front of his face, staring at the way it faintly glowed back at him. He closed his eyes and touched the top of his head with it before letting out a long sigh. His shiin was perfectly fine in his eyes. Common, but fine. He didn’t understand why his clan saw it as inherently weak without taking into consideration what it could do.

His melashiin could regenerate at an astonishingly fast rate. Although it could tire him out, in his mind, the drain on his energy was worth the ability to regenerate itself. He opened his eyes, a deep frown marring his features.

He approached a cluster of four high bars. Each bar was roughly seven feet high, and they had about ten feet between each of them. Usually shinobi trained on it by doing pull ups or swinging from them them to train flexibility. Kotaru used two of his shiin to grab one of the the bars, wrapping the tendrils around the bar once. He tried to pull himself up with his shiin, but it was a bit of a struggle.It admittedly felt awkward to him. They were supposed to be extra limbs used as deftly as one would use their dominant hand to grab things, but he felt as though he was using his non-dominant hand to grab it and hang on.

He let go and dropped to the ground and then took several steps back. With a running start, he leaped towards the highest beam from about three feet behind the bar, and reached two of his shiin limbs to grab at it. One of the tendrils missed, and he painfully grabbed the bar with the other, slipped, and fell onto his back. He got the wind knocked out of him a bit, but after a few seconds of sitting in pain he stood up and dusted himself off.

He tried it again, with better results. He was able to grab onto the bar without slipping, and he adjusted his grip and tried to memorize how it felt to use two of his tendrils to grab onto something and lift himself up. Kotaru did this several times, leaping towards the high bar and grabbing on with two of his tendrils. When he felt like he was ready to do something else, he moved on to a more interesting looking obstacle.

In front of him now stood a series of bars, each taller than the one before it. They were arranged at odd angles so that none of the bars were parallel to another one. They were also spread pretty far apart, some of them roughly twenty feet from the nearest bar. It was an obstacle that shinobi could use to practice swinging from obstacles effortlessly.

After taking a deep breath, Kotaru took a running leap towards the lowest bar. He grabbed it with two tendrils, and could somewhat easily maintain his grip. Using the momentum, he tried to swing to the next bar and grab on with his third tendril. However, the bar was farther and higher than he thought it would be, and he missed completely and landed on his face. Though his nose was sore, he got up quickly and tried again.

It took Kotaru several tried to get it right, but eventually he figured out how much he needed to swing his body after grabbing on to make it to the next bar. When he did, he realized that in order to make it to the third bar, he needed to have a tendril free and ready to grab to the next one.

After he hit himself lightly in the face for missing something so obvious, he tried again. This time, he used only one tendril to grab onto the first bar. His grip was strong enough, and he was able to swing his body up towards the second bar and he held on with a second shiin. He realized his momentum wouldn’t be enough to swing to the third bar, so he hung there and swung for a bit.

The sensation of using his shiin so much was still strange. He had never really practiced extensively with using his shin besides batting away someone who threw a punch at him. It was almost like a baby learning how to feed itself, or how to walk. He dropped down from the ten foot bar and landed squarely on his feet.

He practiced this over and over, jumping and grabbing one bar and swinging to the next. He could still only manage to swing to the third bar. The fourth bar was maybe fifteen feet away from the third and positioned at a very odd angle. He would have to literally twist his body midair to make that transition to the fourth bar.

He decided to take a break and belated noticed the sun had completely, and the training ground was illuminated by small lights that lined the ground, and a few large streetlights scattered here and there. He could hear the sounds of other shinobi training, and he wondered how often they trained into the night.

Kotaru wandered for a bit and found a fountain. The water was lukewarm at best, but he supposed he couldn’t expect much from a public outdoor fountain. The genin slowly made his way back to the the bars, and continued practicing grabbing hold of things with his shiin. He found himself getting used to it, though he still wasn’t quite as adept as he probably should be with his three extra appendages.

When he grew tired of swinging from the bars, he ventured over to a wooden dummy nearby. He reached for his weapons pouch with his hand but paused, instead opting to remove it with his shiin. He fumbled at first, but eventually he grabbed three kunai, one for each tendril. He faced the wooden dummy, then began to hit it and slash at it with the kunai.

Again, it felt awkward to him. Sometimes the kunai would slip from his grip and he would force himself to pick it back up not with his hand, but with the tendril that dropped it. He was getting frustrated, and he took a few breaks in between each slashing and dropping the kunai.

He slashed and jabbed, sliced and chopped, alternating each strike between his shiin. Left, center, then right. Again and again. He then switched it up, jabbing with the center tendril, then the right, then the left. It was tedious, but he needed to get used to what it felt like to use his shiin offensively and to be confident in his movements with it. He did this until his shiin began to feel stiff, then he sat down to take a long break. The moon was high in the sky at this point, and he estimated it was maybe eight or nine o’clock. He closed his eyes and drifted off into a brief nap, and roughly an hour later, he was awake again and back at it.

This time instead of standing stationary and slicing and dicing the wooden dummy, he leaped and ducked and jumped as if the wooden dummy was launching attacks at him. He crouched and slashed with one tendril in one direction, then with another tendril in the other direction in an ‘x’ motion. The move left deep scars on the wood, and he smirked as if he had sliced up a person. He imagined blood dripping from the wood, and lifted his third tendril and threw the kunai towards the middle of the x. He missed the mark, but the metal blade of the weapon embedded itself in the wood near the top of the dummy.

He leaped up and backward and launched a second kunai, still aiming for the middle of the x. Again, he missed the mark, unsurprising since he wasn’t the best at throwing projectiles with any sort of accuracy. This time the kunai landed to the left of the x and only shallowly embedded itself in the wood. When Kotaru landed, he twisted his body into a spin as if dodging something, and when he faced forward again he released the final kunai. This one missed the wooden dummy completely and clattered to the ground. Kotaru scoffed at his lack of skill and walked forward to pick up the kunai with his shiin.

He felt rather pathetic at that point and fleetingly wondered how he even graduated from the academy. Had it not been for his genjutsu, he probably wouldn’t have. He still had a lot of physical training to do, and he wasn’t too enthused about it.

He got back into position and continued to leap and stab at the wooden dummy. Occasionally he would release a kunai and try to hit the center of the x he created, but he wasn’t improving much. It didn’t bother him at that moment; he wouldn’t suddenly master throwing kunai with one hundred percent accuracy in one night. Still, he continued to try, sometimes hitting one of the x’s limbs, but more often than not he missed the x, and he often missed the wooden dummy completely.

Kotaru kept training, not allowing himself to get frustrated. Instead he focused on the task at hand, imagining the wooden dummy was an opponent that was desperately trying to turn him into a human pincushion. He dipped and dodged, and even managed to do a backflip or two before landing and launching a kunai forward. The genin continued this dance until his chest heaved and sweat poured from his forehead and back, and he had to double over in order to catch his breath.

He decided to try one last time. Kotaru slashed at the wood, jabbed at the wood. He jumped up and away as if dodging, completely concentrating on the middle of the X as his target. He took a huge leap back, his feet skidding in the dirt, and used his shiin to throw the first kunai. It hit the wood to the left of the X, though it was pretty close. Then, he rolled to his right and crouched, and from that position he threw the second kunai. This one again landed to the left of the X, thought it was a bit closer to the center than the last one.

He grit his teeth and ran around the wooden dummy, aiming a few jabs at it before coming around to the front again. While he was running, he release the third and final kunai. To his surprise and to his pleasure, this one landed right in the middle of the X.

He cheered, his voice coming out strained and rather hoarse, and the collapsed to the ground, completely out of breath. He was exhausted, but Kotaru managed a triumphant smile before drifting into well deserved sleep.

2,135 words

[Kao]

Speed Training

He woke up from sleep, still at the training grounds and somewhat sore. The sky was beginning to lighten, dawn fast approaching. He had spend the whole night in the training grounds and had even slept there. Kotaru groaned, not from the revelation that he had been out all night, but from the strong hunger pang that wracked his stomach. He decided to head home to grab something to eat, and would probably leave again immediately to do some more training.

When Kotaru crossed the threshold to his parents’ house, he was thankful that it was quiet within. His parents were still asleep, so he would be able to grab a bite and go without even having to run into them. Even if they were awake and saw him, they wouldn’t inquire about where he had been all night. They simply didn’t care enough to ask, and Kotaru was fine with keeping to himself and not needing to answer needless questions from overbearing parents.

He ate two bowls of instant noodles along with a glass of water and then headed back out, his library book on genjutsu nestled in a small bag slung across his shoulder. He stretched in front of the house to loosen up his muscles, and made the impulsive decision to run across the village to the training grounds.

He took off at a steady pace at first, taking the long and scenic route out of the Akari clan compound. Kotaru didn’t like any sort of physical exertion, so by the time he made his way out of the compound he already wanted to stop running and move at a slower, more leisurely pace. He forced himself to keep running, past the gate, past the surrounding houses that belonged to outsiders.

He ran, and ran, and soon sweat was pouring down the boy’s forehead and back. He felt disgusting, and he was growing more and more tired by the second. Although he stretched before he began running, he felt the tell-tale ache in his side. Only then did he slow down to a more comfortable jog. His breath came in heavy pants, and he placed a hand on his chest as if to calm his breathing. He jogged around people, being careful to avoid running into someone and knocking them over, although he doubt that would happen. Kotaru was a small kid, and he probably wouldn’t run into anyone with enough force to knock them off their feet.

When his breathing slowed, Kotaru steeled himself and began running yet again, this time much faster than before. He ran until he found a long empty street, and jogged in place for a few seconds before taking off again. After a few strides, the genin broke into a sprint down the empty street. He ran at nearly his full speed, which wasn’t saying a lot, but he could feel his heart pumping frantically to keep up with him. He sprinted all the way down the street, and once he reached the end the slowed to a halt.

Kotaru lowered himself into a squat so that he could catch his breath. Although he was somewhat fast for a genin, he felt as though he could push himself further and increase his top speed. Training himself to be able to move even faster certainly wasn’t his intention when he left his parent’s house, but he was feeling a bit impulsive, so he decided to train his speed that morning.

It wouldn’t be an easy task. Not only did Kotaru absolutely hate running, but he wasn’t sure if simply running and sprinting through the village was enough to increase his speed. His uncertainty and distaste for running wasn’t enough to deter him, however, so once he had completely caught his breath and his heart slowed up a bit, he took off again.

His time instead of running a few strides at first, he burst into a sprint immediately, racing down the same street he just travelled. He turned a sharp corner, losing speed only momentarily before picking it back up again. Kotaru pushed his top speed and felt his legs, lungs, and heart screaming back at him. But he refused to slow down; instead he ran at his top speed for three blocks, doing the best he could to avoid obstacles like food stalls and people. It was difficult indeed; twice he nearly lost his pace and ran into food stalls, but instead of slowing down to avoid them, he jumped over them in a single leap and kept going.

He was halfway to the training grounds, and he was tired. But the Akari did not want to give up, so he continued running. When the road branched into a fork with a small two story building in the middle, instead of taking either the left or right paths, he sent a small amount of chakra to his feet and scaled the building. To his surprised, he didn’t look his pace or speed, and he continued to run at his top speed as he climbed up and over the building. He jumped over the roof, landing perfectly on the other side.

As soon as his feet hit the ground, he broke out into another sprint. He felt his muscles pushing against him, but he pushed back, forcing himself to run past his limit. As he did, his right thigh threatened to catch a cramp, but he mentally berated himself to keep going. ‘Don’t stop running, keep going!’ bellowed the voice in his head.

He pushed and pushed until his entire body began to shout at him to stop. He was covered in sweat, and his legs were hurting him. Kotaru needed to rest, but he was stubborn. He kept up the sprint for a few more paces before he finally took another break to let his body catch up with his determination.

Instead of crouching, this time he sat down. His heart was beating frantically, desperately trying to supply his overworked muscles with much needed oxygen. Kotaru allowed his body to rest for several minutes until his lungs finally stopped burning. He took a swig from the water bottled nestled deep in his bag, still breathing a bit heavily as he closed the lid and put it away.

He stood up and stretched again, being sure not to injure his already strained muscles. He wasn’t far from the training grounds now, so this would be his last run for the time being. Kotaru took a deep breath to prepare himself, sliding his legs and lowering himself into position. When his mental whistle blew, he took off in a sprint, immediately moving at his top speed.

He did his best to breathe steadily as he sprinted, and after several seconds, he willed his legs to move faster, and the heavy patter of his feet increased his pace. It increased extensively, and Kotaru left a cloud of dust his wake. He barely heard the confused and startled exclamations of the people he passed by. He was completely focused on his task, and by the time he collapsed at the entrance to the training ground, he knew that he could move and run a bit faster than he could before.

1,206 words

[Kao]

Strength Training

Once he reached the training ground, Kotaru took a short break. His body wasn’t exactly sore, but he was clearly not in tip top shape. He trotted to the same bars that he had trained on the previous day and stood beneath the lowest one, only ten feet or so above his head. He jumped upward and grabbed on to the bar with both hands and began to do pull ups. His muscles flexed as he lifted himself up so that his chin was raised over the bar, and lowered himself down slowly. Kotaru did not lower himself so far that his arms were completely straight when he lowered himself, but instead lowered himself only halfway and then lifted himself again.

He did this several times, over and over, and it became quite tedious as time went on. After he did roughly sixty pull ups, the Akari dropped to the ground and stretched his arms, rolling them in large circles at his side. Next, he lowered himself down and began doing push ups. To make it more interesting, he did a bit of a chant as he exercised.

“Push! Up! Push! Up! A! Ka! Ri! Up! Ko! Ta! Ru! One!” That represented one set of push ups. He kept going just to see how many sets of push ups he could do before his arms began shaking from the stress.

“Push! Up! Push! Up! A! Ka! Ri! Up! Ko! Ta! Ru! Four!” Push! Up! Push…! Up…! ….A! …Ka! ….Damn….” and with that, his arms gave up, and he collapsed into the dirt. He did a little over four sets, which was less than sixty. The young shinobi moaned and forced himself to sit up, and then he slowly stood. He felt that he should be able to do many more pushups than a mere forty-eight and some change, but at his current strength, that was his limit after doing several dozen pull ups.

Even though he was tired, he found this traditional way of training up the strength of his body extremely boring, and he wanted nothing more than to just close his eyes and make a wish, and his body be stronger. But since that was wishful thinking, he decided to wander around the training grounds to see if there was any other way to train that was more interesting than pumping iron and doing pull ups.

He found the answer quickly. Not far from where he had been training, he found a rope course. Interested, he released his shiin and approached a set of two ropes connected to an anchor. There was another set right behind it. He took a moment to consider, then he grabbed two ropes, one in each hand, and then grabbed two other ropes with his shiin.

Kotaru adjusted the ropes so that his palms faced in, and then he raised one arm to shoulder level the quickly lowered it. As he lowered one arm, he raised the other, and he began an intense session of alternating waves. He did them as fast as he could without losing form, and he felt the muscles in his shoulders and arms working to keep up. He thought his arms were reaching their limit, especially considering he had already done so many pull ups and push ups not even a half hour ago.

The genin’s muscles were getting somewhat sore but he kept going, and he kept on going with the alternating rope waves. After a few sets, he felt like his arms needed a brief break. While he gave his arms a rest, he started doing alternating waves with his shiin. He still wasn’t used to using his shiin, and he felt even weaker in that sense, but he did the alternating waves as best as he could. In fact, he found that after a few rounds he could sling the ropes in the alternating waves just as fast as he could with his arms.

When the strain was almost too much, he stopped and took a brief water break. Then, he took all four ropes, two in each hand and two grabbed by two of his shiin. Once he confirmed his grip, he did alternating waves with all four ropes. As he moved, he lowered himself in a crouching position so that he also worked out his core as he exercised.

Unfortunately, Kotaru could only do a few of these doubled alternating waves before he and his body decided it was a bit more than he bargained for. He was soon completely drenched in sweat, and he held the ropes limply in his hands and shiin for a minute or so before he began them again.

He continued on, his body screaming at him that it was time to stop, but the stubborn genin kept going. He would do a few reps, then pause, do a few reps then pause for water. Do a few reps, pause for water, then start again. When his muscles began wailing, he did even more reps, slightly faster. But he stopped before he could hurt himself, and collapsed.

He closed his eyes and napped for about an hour. When he opened them again, the sun was well above the horizon, and he could hear more distant grunting from people training on the grounds. He grabbed the ropes again, two in each hand and two held by his melashiin, and he stood facing the anchor with his feet a little wider than shoulder width apart. He held the ropes by his sides and lowered himself into a squat. Without crossing his hands or shiin, he moved his arms and shiin in toward one another and then back out. The ropes looked like four snakes, two on either side of him. Then, he did aHe did this over and over, and though his muscles almost immediately quit. Three moves was all he could do at first. He was at his limit.

Despite this, he steeled himself to do it again. He wanted to make it to ten, so he started again. The ropes, at his side, slithered on the ground in front of him. His arms were tired, exhausted even, but he kept going. One set, and his arms were yelling. Three sets, and they were weeping. Seven sets, they were screaming, but the genin kept going until he hit that final tenth rep. Then, he sat down, knowing that he had pushed himself to his limit and beyond it.

1,080 words

[Kao]

Control Training

A few days after he tortured his body with strength training, Kotaru found himself once again at the training grounds. He stood in a section of the training ground with several lines drawn in the dirt. He had drawn five lines, each one meter apart. On each line were a few coals soaked in some flammable liquid. The boy yawned as he formed several hand seals, then inhaled a mighty breath. When he exhaled, a large cone of flames erupted from his mouth and barreled forward. Kotaru allowed the flames to last a few seconds before he stopped his breath and the flames dispersed.

When he finished the jutsu, all five of the lines were on fire, indicating the flames had travelled the maximum five meters he could manage. When the coals smoldered, he formed the seals again. This time he tried to limit the reach of the flames to four meters. When the flames subsided, the coals on the fifth line were again on fire.

The genin sucked his teeth and tried again, this time forming the seals a bit more quickly. He inhaled again, and when he exhaled the flames were a bit weaker than before. No, not weaker, but they didn’t reach as far. But when the flames subsided, once again all five lines of coal had ignited. Although it seemed as though the flames didn’t reach as far, the very edges of the flames had still reached the fifth marker.

The coals were pretty much ashes, so he kicked them to the side and replaced them with fresh ones. He placed them carefully, making sure the placement was as accurate as before. Again he formed the seals and inhaled. To his dismay, when he checked the distance, the flames had still travelled the maximum five meters. He became frustrated and did the jutsu again, and again, and again. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t figure out how to control the flames more precisely so that they would travel exactly as far as he wanted them.

By the time he attempted it ten times, the genin was spent and was wound up panting on the ground. He was exhausted, and if he continued to try he would probably pass out. He decided to give himself a real break.

The next day, he was back at the training grounds performing the same exercise. A few times the flames appeared to not reach the fifth marker, but they were heated enough that it indicated the flames were only a few inches short.

The boy growled, angrily forming each hand seal as carefully as he could. When he formed the flames again and the jet of flames erupted in front of him and subsided, he warily checked the markers. The fifth marker was, once again, on fire, and Kotaru cursed colorfully under his breath and tried the jutsu again. Soon enough, Kotaru found himself quickly exhausted the more the tried to control the jutsu. He didn’t understand what he was doing wrong, so after he took a long rest to recuperate he wandered to his second least favorite place: the library.

Controlling the jutsu shouldn’t have been that difficult. But not matter how hard Kotaru tried, he couldn’t get the hang of it and his jutsu manifested the same way each time. There had had to be a simpler way to go about it, he thought as he browsed the books. Unfortunately for the Akari, he was a loner and didn’t know anyone he could ask for help, so he had to rely on the dry instructions found in the books and hope for the best.

He found a few books that seemed helpful, so he checked them out and went to his usual perch on the roof and started reading. At first, he read one book voraciously, looking for any bit of information that could help improve his control over his chakra. But the more he read, the more the words started sounding the same. Chakra network this, chakra types that. It was filled with basic information, things he pretty much already knew. He couldn’t find anything that would be even remotely helpful and closed the book with an irritable huff.

After tossing that book to the side he picked up another. His one was shorter and more to the point and actually had some helpful notes. The author wrote that chakra within the body was energy behind a dam. To control the amount of chakra, one had to control the dam and be able to feel and understand the precise amount of chakra to use for particular jutsu.

In another more detailed metaphor, it described jutsu as different sized jars, each with a marked line. The line represented the minimum amount of chakra for the jar to be considered “full” and useable. One could fill the jars past the line, but that would be a waste of resources. A truly capable ninja is able to determine that minimum amount of chakra necessary to fuel each and every jutsu in his or her arsenal and use that specific amount of chakra each and every time.

With a thoughtful hum, Kotaru scaled down the building and deposited the book in the return box and made his way back to the training grounds. He retrieved the now dry coals and doused them in lighter fluid again, and set them up on the meter markers.

When he formed the seals and inhaled, he paid more attention to how his chakra was gathering. It was difficult to discern, and he spent too much time holding in the chakra; by the time he had somewhat of a grasp on how much chakra he was about to expend, he lost control completely and the chakra swirled in him painfully and dispersed.

He was lucky; the katon chakra could have backfired tremendously and exploded outward and injured him. He molded the chakra again and did his best to memorize how much chakra he was expended. When he did, he released the jutsu and watched the flames erupt in front of him, engulfing the coal markers. When the flames subsided, as expected, each marker up to the five meter mark was on fire.

He performed the seals again and gathered his chakra. This time as he paid attention to how much chakra he was molding. Kotaru vaguely felt like he was using too much chakra this time so he backed off a bit, and molded a bit less. He released the jutsu and immediately noticed the flames appeared quite a bit weaker. Not only that, but the diameter of the flames seemed to be a bit smaller. When the flames subsided, he eagerly checked how many of the coal markers were on fire.

To his amazement, this time only three of the coal markers were on fire. Now the genin was excited, and he hoped he was finally getting the hang of controlling his chakra. He formed the seals again, trying to ignore the fact that he was growing a bit tired. He again molded his chakra and paid close attention to how much he was molding. The goal this time was to only ignite the first four markers. He gathered his chakra and tried to mold a bit more than before, but not quite as much as he had been molding. To only light four markers and leave the fifth untouched would require an amount of chakra that was somewhere in the middle of the two.

Confident he would quickly find this middle ground, he released the jutsu. Unfortunately, this time he again ignited only three markers. He wanted to try again, but his body was growing weaker. Kotaru still couldn’t use a lot of chakra, so he would have to rest up and try again later. He made a mental note to someday remedy this as he made the long walk to his parents’ house.

His third day of training came two days later. The genin went to the training grounds with a layer of ointment on his cheeks and around his lips. The constant use of katon jutsu had chapped his lips and left his skin a bit burned. It was uncomfortable, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Akari from training and gaining more precise control over his chakra.

Again he lined up the coals on the meter markers, and formed the hand seals. When the chakra was molding within him, he was able to somewhat recognize when the chakra he was gathering was too much, so he eased back on the amount of chakra he molded.

When he released the jutsu, the flames erupted with all the vigor of the jutsu at full power. But when they faded, it revealed that the flames had burned up to the fourth mark, yet again. The Akari rolled his eyes but tried again. He reduced the amount of chakra again, this time getting the hang of the feeling. It was taking a lot more time than he would like, but he was steadily learning how much chakra produced the power he needed.

He kept at it as much as he could. He had a hard time controlling his chakra and flames to the point where only three markers would ignite. On the fourth try, he finally got it; when the flames vanished, only the first three meter markers were ignited.

If Kotaru had not been so tired he would have leapt for joy. But instead, he gave a quiet fist pump and fell to his knees. He did hit best to remember how much chakra he had needed to mold for that amount of flames. Several minutes later he stood to his feet, wobbling slightly, and tried again.

The flames disappeared, and again, only the first three markers were ignited. The genin was both ecstatic and exhausted, and he decided that was enough training for the day.


Two days later, he was at it again. He was more confident on his fourth day of training, and although his body was tired and still hadn’t had the chance to fully recover, he was sure that he would improve even more. He’d had to buy more lighter fluid, so he happily doused the coals with the liquid.

The hand seals were, at this point, second nature to the genin. The amount of chakra, less so, but he had a firmer grasp on controlling how much chakra he needed in order to effectively use his jutsu. He molded the chakra and transformed it to katon chakra, intending to ignite only the first three markers. He succeeded on his first try that day, and he was very pleased despite himself.

When the coals smoldered, he formed the seals again. This time, his aim was to ignite all five markers. When the flames subsided and all five markers were ignited, he was absolutely elated. So much, in fact, that he took more coals and set them about a meter to the left of the first five coals, then more coals about a meter to the right.

The formed the seals three times over. Starting in the middle, he used the flame jet jutsu, and aimed for only the first three markers. Then, he darted to the left. This time, when he molded the chakra, he molded a bit more and aimed to ignite all five markers. As soon as the flames left his lips in the cone shape, he dashed all the way to the right, and performed the jutsu again. This last time, he aimed for the first four markers.

When all the flames subsided, Kotaru waited with bated breath to see how he did. To his immense satisfaction, the middle row was ignited to only the first three markers. In the left row, all three coal markers were aflame. And, finally, on the last row, only the first four markers were on fire. It took several days, but Kotaru was finally able to control his chakra enough that he could accurately determine how much chakra he needed to perform his jutsu the way he intended. He would have to continue training to make sure he could control more of his jutsu in the same way. Until then, Kotaru would take a well deserved nap.

2,049 words

[Kao]

Stamina Training

No one could dispute the fact that Kotaru had been working hard with training for the past few weeks. He had improved his chakra control, his physical strength, and his prowess with genjutsu and taijutsu. But no matter how much he trained and improved, he came across the same problem: he tired easily.

His family would say it’s because he’s weak. The nature of his shiin made him tire more easily than his clan members with different types of shiin. He didn’t doubt that his shiin made him tire out quicker than he liked, but it was absolutely not an indicator that he was weak, and he would prove it someday.

Kotaru performed hand seals, and two clones appeared in front of them, each looking exactly like him. “Hey,” he said, and his clones echoed the greeting. “Katon clones…yeah…try not to die and blow me up.” He divvied up his stash of kunai between them so they would each have five, and swallowed to ease his dry throat. A friend or two would come in handy at this point; it would less of a risk than training with two extremely katon clones that could explode at any time.

At his signal, the two katon clones went on the offensive. One of them, Kotaru Clone One, immediately threw a kunai at his chest. Kotaru dodged it easily, and Kotaru Clone Two followed up with a punch towards the throat. The genin easily dodged it, and he could have dispatched Kotaru Clone Two right then and there. But he was too close, and an exploding tag to the face would not add up to a good time. Instead, he performed more hand seals, a double set this time, and aimed a jet of katon toward Kotaru Clone One. As soon as the jutsu left his lips, another katon clone formed, and the jet of flames destroyed the clone. It erupted in a loud bang and the four remaining kunai it held clattered to the ground, and luckily the clone was far enough from Kotaru that it didn’t affect him.

Kotaru Clone Three wasted no time attacking, apparently ignoring the memo that it shouldn’t get too close with too much force. Clone Three picked up Clone One’s four fallen kunai, and held one in its mouth and one in each hand. The genin’s heart skipped as he narrowly avoided a slice to his face. As he dodged, Clone Two launched a kunai. Luckily, the weak clone’s aim was awful, and the Akari didn’t have to expend any effort in dodging.

He did two backflips to put distance between himself and the clones; when he landed, he immediately performed more hand seals. Again, he performed Flame Jet, and Clone Two was nowhere near fast enough to dodge. It exploded in a brilliant flash, and another clone took its kunai and its place.

Clones Three and Four narrowed their eyes and kept their distance. They wouldn’t be able to move fast enough to even counter him, and their taijutsu skills weren’t good enough to pose a ranged attack with the kunai. At that moment, they’d just keep their distance and make Kotaru tire himself out, which was more or less his plan from the beginning.

In a flash, Kotaru performed seals and gathered his chakra. This time he made another two more clones before he dashed forward and targeted Clone Four. It didn't stand a chance, and when the flames hit it, the clone exploded. Clones Three, Five, and Six remained. Kotaru Clone Six hid itself behind a climbing wall while Clone Five dashed to pick up Clone Four’s four kunai.

Though he didn’t want to admit it, Kotaru was growing tired. Sweat beaded at his forehead and on his back. He did his best to hid this fact from his clones, but the heavy breaths that heaved from his chest was a dead giveaway. He wanted to dismiss the clones, but Kotaru Clone Five wasn’t having it. While Kotaru was distracted by his weariness, Clone Five launched two kunai.

The aim was bad, as expected, but when Kotaru dodged to the left, Clones Three and Six took that opportunity to attack him from both sides. Clone Six, unarmed, tried to get as close to Kotaru as possible, while Clone Three launched a kunai. The kunai missed Kotaru completely. The genin followed the kunai’s trajectory with his eyes. Just in time, he realized the clones’ intentions.

He darted away as fast as he could just before the kunai lodged in Clone Six’s chest. Luckily for Kotaru, he had trained up his speed and was able to get out of the way, and Clone Six exploded spectacularly.

“Hey! Stop trying to blow me up!” Kotaru bellowed, but Clones Three and Five simply smirked at him. The formed the seals again and launched the flame jet jutsu towards Clone Five, but he didn’t take into account that the clone was hiding behind a rather sturdy climbing wall. Once that jutsu was spent, Kotaru felt as though he was almost completely out of chakra. He wanted nothing more than to dispatch them both with jutsu, but he was tired, and wasn’t sure if he had enough chakra to even go that far, but he still wanted to try.

Kotaru gathered up what little chakra he had left and attempted to do one more flame jet technique. But something in his body lurched, and he felt that if he tried that again, he would completely pass out. Clone Three, seemingly privy to that fact, moved to launch another kunai. But as soon as the kunai left Clone Three’s hand, Kotaru reached his limit, and both the remaining clones dispersed. Kotaru ducked his head to dodge the weapon and did his best to not black out. He had reached his limit, and he felt as though it was pathetic. But there was nothing he could do about it until his chakra replenished, so he used that moment and the rest of the day to relect and rest.



It was another day and a half before Kotaru went back to the training grounds. He kept repeating in his head what his limit was: Four strong Flame Jet technique and six katon clone techniques. Ten low ranked jutsu at best, and that was without exerting himself too much physically. Kotaru kicked a nearby rock, telling himself that he could - no, he had to do better.

He would push himself harder. The Akari formed a long string of hand seals, and when a puff of smoke cleared, three clones stood before him. “Don’t. Explode in my face.”

The clones remained silent but clearly understood the command. In the next second, Kotaru’s shiin protruded from his lower back. His clones remained the same. Kotaru tossed two kunai to each of his three clones, and they clumsily caught them. With a small sigh, Kotaru motioned for them to begin. Despite the fact that they were weak and a little bit clumsy, the clones had Kotaru’s intelligence and planning. They knew Kotaru would keep his distance, not only because that was his normal method of fighting, but also because he was wary of the fact that they would explode once they “died.”

Kotaru formed hand seals and targeted the clone closest to him on the left - today’s Kotaru Clone One. As expected, the clone wasn’t fast enough to escape his technique, and once the flames hit it, it exploded. Right after the clone was destroyed, another clone took its place. That day, Kotaru was intent on improving his stamina and being able to use more jutsu. He knew it would take time and he wouldn’t improve in just one day. He was impatient, but he knew he had to take his time with this, and at the same time, he had to be careful. If he overexerted himself carelessly, he could pass out in the middle of the training grounds, or worse.

The second day of training went much like the first. He launched attack after attack at his clones, usually of the same type. Occasionally he would utilize his shiin and counter thrown kunai or throw them. A few times he imbued his kunai with katon chakra before launching them at the clones and destroying them. But again, Kotaru found he could not keep fighting for very long, and after he used eleven techniques, he reached his limit, and the remaining clones disappeared. It was an improvement, but not by much. That day he not only pushed himself, but also paid attention to how much chakra he used.

His third day of training came several days later. Iwagakure had endured a series of thunderstorms, and his weak katon jutsu would not have been able to withstand the torrential downpour for very long. Despite the fact that he couldnt’ train with his katon clones, he didn’t wait around for the rain to stop. He found an indoor gym with some sturdy equipment and practiced by using Bump and imbuing his weapons with katon chakra. It wasn’t exactly as strenuous as training with the clones and the flame jet jutsu, but it was enough to keep his body alert, in a sense.

When he found himself at the training grounds again, he started with four clones. Kotaru Clones Two and Four were sneaky, and used Clones One and Three as decoys and tried to press Kotaru with kunai. But the genin was prepared and more than capable of keeping up, and he dispatched seven clones with his Flame Jets before he found himself out of chakra.

The third and fourth days were much of the same. He made a little progress, and each time he trained he found he could push himself a little further each time. Not by much, but progress was progress in his book, and he was content that he was even getting stronger at all.

The fifth day of training began early in the morning and it was a bit tougher. He started with five clones rather than four, and it took him quite some time before he was able to dispatch them. The clones, although slow, worked together rather well, probably a bit better than he anticipated. Each time he fought them he reminded himself that he needed to make stronger, sturdier clones. But for the time being they were enough, and they served as mere targets at which he could throw jutsu left and right. He nearly dispatched nine clones on that day of training, but he ran out of chakra when he destroyed the eighth.

By the tenth day he stopped counting the days, and instead focused on counting how long the trainings went by. He trained for hours, pushing his body, passing out on more than one occasion, though he never reached that point where his life was in any danger.

A little over two weeks after he first began training his endurance, he started off with five clones. The clones did their best to keep Kotaru on his toes, but he dispatched them one after another, always replacing them as he did. By the time he created his tenth clone with his tenth flame jet, he was growing tired, but he forced himself to remain alert.

Kotaru, yes, pushed himself to the limit because he was in it to win it. The clones were boring at this point and didn't post much of a challenge. By the time he created his fourteenth clone and dispatched it, the genin was tired. Four clones stood before him, ready to explode in his face if he let his guard down just because he was growing weary. Ready to end it, Kotaru imbued two kunai with katon chakra, making them nearly red hot. When Clone Seven and Clone Twelve stepped forward to have their go at him, he deftly threw the kunai at them, and they exploded on impact.

The remaining clones looked hesitant. Kotaru was at his limit, but unlike all the other times, he wouldn’t give up before dispatching those last two clones. Using two kunai he had concealed in two of his shiin limbs, he threw them at Clone Five and Clone Nine, and they, too, exploded.

Exhausted, Kotaru sat down and closed his eyes. He was slowly, but surely, getting stronger every day.

2,059 words

[Kao]

Genjutsu Training

Kotaru was back at it again with studying genjutsu from library books. He sat at his normal perch on the top the library, the sounds of the few villagers nearby chatting and going about their day serving as pleasant white noise. He flipped open the book to read more about illusion genjutsu.

Kotaru had learned a lot in his previous studies about triggers for all types of genjutsu. He wasn’t the best at genjutsu by any means, but he was considerably better than many of his peers who put their time and effort into the taijutsu and ninjutsu arts. Among his classmates, he was at the top of the class when it came to the genjutsu arts. Kotaru was different than most of his classmates; a physically weak boy with a strong disposition, he had always preferred to throw off anyone he had to spar with by messing with their mind. He found that a mentally weakened opponent was just as good, if not better, than a physically weakened one.

He started with the chapter that described illusion genjutsu at different strengths. The weakest of all illusion genjutsu were described as being at academy level had almost no combat capabilities. These kinds of genjutsu could only affect, at most, one sense in an extremely minor way. Low ranked genjutsu could do things such as make someone’s nose itch, or make a target see dust in their peripheral vision, no different than one would see in ray of light in room that was slightly dusty.

How boring, Kotaru thought, to only be able to cause very, very minor illusions. He wondered what was the usefulness of such genjutsu, and the book answered his question immediately. Such justu were usually used to teach novice students how to use genjutsu and what being placed under a genjutsu may feel like, and they were almost never used outside of the classroom.

Kotaru vaguely remembered his teacher using a genjutsu on the some of students that made their scalps itchy. At the time, he thought it was merely a matter of suggestibility, or his classmates had particularly disgusting hygiene habits. He hadn’t experienced the genjutsu that day, but later on after he was more experienced in the art he figured that it must be one of these extremely weak genjutsu that the book was describing.

Moving on, he read about slightly stronger genjutsu that were commonly learned by advanced academy students and genin. These genjutsu were only able to to affect a single sense, but were noticeably stronger than the academy level genjutsu. The book described many effects. One effect was causing a loud, singular noise. He nodded at those words; those types of genjutsu were usually used as distractions or as a way to make a small, brief opening during combat. He had started to learn a technique like that at one time but he had decided against it in order to focus on techniques he felt he would be more likely to use.

Another effect of genjutsu that fell into this category were ones that caused a minor annoyance or discomfort. A popular technique, one that Kotaru had learned, was an illusion called Smell of the Deceased that made someone smell vile, rotting flesh. It was admittedly one of Kotaru’s favorites, and he fully intended to create a style of sorts that would produce similiar discomforts. He knew that he would enjoy creating illusions of death to use against his opponents, so he was oddly pleased that the book would mention that particular genjutsu.

The book also described genjutsu that would cause disturbances in the target’s vision. These genjutsu, Kotaru read, could be considered weak, potential game changers. If an opponent was easily distracted, even a small disturbance in their vision could provide the necessary opening to defeat them. There were also, of course, jutsu that could call small annoyances in the other senses - touch, sensory, taste. Bugs crawling across the skin was an intersting mention. Kotaru paused to contemplate, and decided that perhaps he could make an illusion that made his target taste something rancid and disgusting, such as spoiled milk.

He kept reading, and he came across the section about even stronger techniques. It described this category as genjutsu that were average or even slightly below average strength for shinobi who were quite experienced with genjutsu. Kotaru straightened as he read this section, as it was the next step towards becoming a master in the art of illusions.

These genjutsu, unlike lower ranked techniques, could target two to three senses at once. For example, it read, it could cause an illusion of touch along with a visual illusion, such as a technique that would make a target see and feel themselves on fire. Genjutsu of this rank could also opt to target only once sense in a relatively strong manner, such as creating a powerful visual illusion. The text gave an example of a powerful jutsu of this rank that only affected one sense: an illusion that could create a visual jutsu that would cause a target to see their loved one in pain.

Interesting, Kotaru thought. This level of genjutsu would be the next step for him in his quest to become a genjutsu specialist. He wasn’t sure when he decided to focus most of his energy on genjutsu, but reading about the various types of genjutsu only made the genin more eager to progress and learn more techniques.

Kotaru kept reading on as the text described many more illusion genjutsu of this rank. There were genjutsu that could alter the enviroment, such as the Heaven Earth Swap genjutsu, which would cause a target’s vision to flip in respect to the postion of the earth and the sky. Another genjutsu the book described intrigued Kotaru. It described a technique known as Hell Viewing, in which the target would see any kind disturbing images that the caster chose. Kotaru could think of many disturbing images that would make an opponent cringe in fear, and he made a note to himself to someday learn the technique, or create one similar to it.

Soon he finished that section, and came across the section describing even stronger techniques. These were the B ranks, powerful techniques that truly began to delve into an opponent’s mind. These techniques were often used by strong chuunin, special jounin, and jounin of lower or average strength. They could be used to target nearly every sense in some way, though if a technique affected all six senses, it would me a relatively minor effect.

Kotaru felt a jolt within him as the book described some techniques of the B rank. There were genjutsu that could remove vision for a short amount of time. There were genjutsu that could affect the environment in the way the target perceived motion. Those techniques could make the caster appear to disappear or appear to move slower than they actually were.

All in all, Kotaru could barely contain his excitment as he imagined the possibilities. He was nowhere near the level to use B rank techniques, and he knew it. At his current skill level, the best he could do was manage illusions that would cause very slight discomfort for his enemies. Though the techniques had come in handy during academy exams and random skirmishes with bullies, he yearned to be able to use stronger techniques.

He continued reading about these powerul techniques, eagerly devouring every word. Another genjutsu that piqued Kotaru’s interest was one that would increase the target’s sensitivity to pain. Kotaru admittedly liked causing his opponents pain, so it was something that he wanted to learn as soon as his skill level permitted. Earlier he had read about a weaker technique that had the opposite effect: it dulled the target’s sensitivity to pain. He pondered why the technique was considered weaker than the B ranked one that would increase sensitivity to pain. Perhaps, he thought, the increased sensitivity to pain was a greater change on the opponent than the one that dulled the pain.

There wasn’t much sense in overthinking why these techniques differed so much in strength. He would figure that out once he began learning the moves. With that in mind, he kept reading on.

Soon he came upon the section that described even more powerful techniques: the A ranked genjutsu. These techniques were considerably more powerful than the last group, and could completely control “minor” senses, such as scent, taste, and sensory. At this, Kotaru frowned. What made these two senses “minor,” he wondered. Perhaps it was because these senses were typically not targetted as much. As he kept reading, he smiled as the book answered his question. They were minor senses because they were easier to manipulate in comparison to senses such as hearing and vision. In addition, hearing and vision illusion required more complex control and techniques. Even though these techniques controlled what were considered “minor” senses, they still required an immense amount of chakra control.

Nodding in understanding, Kotaru sighed a bit. He had always known he would have to improve on his chakra control in order to use more powerful techniques. Kotaru was reminded of a passage he had read in a book during his genin days. Genjutsu was not an easy discipline to learn, not by any means. Not only did it require knowledge and prowess with using genjutsu, one had to have immaculate chakra control in order to influence and affect the chakra flow of their opponents in order to create effective illusions. Not only that, but the discipline was extremely draining. Those who chose to specialize in genjutsu needed an immense amount of chakra in addition to amazing chakra control. Without the proper chakra reserves, a genjutsu user would tire too quickly to truly be considered effective and a master of the discipline.

Genjutsu specialists were also suggested to have a considerablely formidabel level of intelligence. After all, genjutsu specialists needed to quicky be able to figure out what genjutsu would be most effective against different oppoents. They also sometimes used different triggers for the same genjutsu, or they needed to figure out how to utilize strong, complex triggers without giving themselves away.

Kotaru knew being a genjutsu specialist would be difficult. He was already at a slight disadvantage with the type of shiin he had. Melashiin was considered weak for the way it drained chakra from the Akari who owned it. But Kotaru was stubborn, and though he didn’t yet realize it, one of the reasons he chose to tackle such a difficult specialty was to prove everyone around him wrong. He was strong enough to use genjutsu, and once he was more experienced, he fully intended to use his prowess with genjutsu to thoroughly wreck anyone and everyone who dared berate him.

The genin continued reading about the powerful A ranked illusion genjutsu. The book noted that genjutsu at this rank could cause grand effects that could even imitate strong ninjutsu techniques. This was interesting to Kotaru, especially since he didn’t put much care and attention into learning ninjutsu. He only knew a handful of weak katon techniques, and he didn’t see himself ever learning super strong ninjutsu that would ever rival the strength of the genjutsu he intended to learn. There was also no plan to ever train himself to discover any other elemental ninjutsu affinities he may possess. If he could learn techniques at this level, he was sure he could fool his opponents into thinking he was even proficient with various ninjutsu and elemental ninjutsu. He didn’t know any suiton ninjutsu and secretly hope he didn’t have an affinity for it, but strong genjutsu could fool his opponents into thinking he could use it. The same went for raiton and doton techniques, and fuuton techniques as well.

The possibilities were endless. Kotaru wondered why there were so many people who scorned the use of genjutsu. He had once overheard his parents berating him in the next room; they viewed him as not only inherently weak because of his melashiin, but also weak because he had a penchance for learning a discipline that many people underestimated and disregarded. The genin scoffed at the thought, he frowned at the memory. He pushed the thought and disdain for his parents aside and continued to fill his head with knowledge.

He was reaching the end of the book. One of the final chapters was about the strongest of all illusion genjutsu: the coveted S ranked genjutsu. These jutsu were reserved for the strongest shinobi: the most powerful jounin, the bannin, and of course, the kage of the villages. Kotaru was practically drooling as he began to read this section.

These techniques were, of course, godly in their effects, and they could seriously damage and alter an opponent's mind. These techniques were extremely powerful, to say the least, because they could completely and utterly change someone’s perception of the world around them. It could affect all of their senses, including their sense of space and time in such a way that lower ranked techniques could not even touch. These genjutsu could severely limit an opponent’s ability to properly navigate their environment. Not only that, but S ranked illusion genjutsu could control those main three senses that most genjutsu users targeted: sound, sight, and touch.

Kotaru greedily read the words that followed. Genjutsu of this rank could completely control the opponent’s sense of hearing, and the caster could make the user hear practically anything. The sound of the comrades screaming and dying, the deafening sound of a volcano erupting, or even the sound of everything around them and produce an auditory overload. The caster could also completely take over an opponent’s sense of sight. This was especially intriguing to Kotaru. He could just imagine making his opponent see dozens and dozens of themselves, dying in the most gruesome ways imaginable. At this level he could do this simultaneously, and have each “copy” of themselves die in different ways.

The genin cackled cruelly, and took several moments to imagine different scenes of death. Being flayed alive, waterboarded to death, eated alive by dogs, and eaten alive by thousands of maggots were only some of the horrid scenes Kotaru imagined. He was truly a troubled child.

Moving on, he read about S ranked genjutsu that could completely alter the opponents sense of touch. Though this initially wasn’t quite as exciting prospect as controlling sight, Kotaru quickly thought of the possibilities. He could make an opponent feel as though their skin was melting off, or that they were being drowned. He could make them feel as though their limbs were being slowly pulled away from their bodies, or have them feel absolutely nothing at all.

Kotaru leaned back so that he could lie on his back. With the book poised above him, he began to finish the book. The book explained that completely removing these senses was also an option, and it was more than enough to be a complete game changer in any battle. Kotaru knew at that moment that one day, when he was older and much, much stronger, he would master these techniques and create custom ones of him own. Whatever it took to inflict as much pain and suffering on his opponents as possible.

When Kotaru reached the end of the book, he realized he had learned an immense amount of information about illusion techniques. He learned about all the different ways to initiate illusion genjutsu. He learned about all the different levels of illusion genjutsu he could learn. From the practically useless academy level techniques, all the way up to the ridiculously powerful techniques that were reserved to only the strongest shinobi and genjutsu users, Kotaru thought to himself that he was on the right path.

Genjutsu was an especially powerful discipline to those who studied it and dedicated their lives to its mastery. Kotaru knew that specializing in genjutsu was the correct path for him, and he had only read up about illusion techniques. The very end of the book made sure to let the reader know that illusion genjutsu was only one type of genjutsu that a shinobi could learn. There were also illusion of force genjutsu, which were not explained in detail in the book. Illusion of force genjutsu were only briefly mentioned in passing towards the beginning of the book. Kotaru made a mental reminder that he would have to find a book that talked exclusively about illusion of force genjutsu so that he would be able to learn more about them. The book also said that there were genjutsu known as status genjutsu, which would modify and manipulate the way an opponent thought. Kotaru’s jaw dropped at this paragraph. He only vaguely remembered his sensei back in the academy mention status genjutsu. They were more advanced than illusion genjutsu, and none of that type of genjutsu were taught to academy students because they simply were not strong enough to use them.

He would have to remember to also find a book about status genjutsu. Itw as a whole new world that Kotaru had yet to explore. Not only that, but the book also mentioned a type of genjutsu called overlay. Kotaru didn’t quite understand these techniques, and the book helpfully explained that novice shinobi (like himself), typically did not learn this type of genjutsu unless they truly dedicated themselves to the art. It required a superb amount of control, something Kotaru hadn’t quite grasped at that point. It was a difficult concept, but the book briefly explained that overlay genjutsu was an advanced form of genjutsu that combined illusion with a bit status. It was something Kotaru would definitely not be able to learn until he mastered status genjutsu.

It dawned on Kotaru that he had chosen and specially difficult path. But the boy was stubborn, and he was definitely up for the challenge. The last type of genjutsu the book described before its end was a type called warp genjutsu. The book’s explanation left much to be desired. All it said was warp genjutsu were extremely powerful and only shinobi who dedicated themselves to the art of genjutsu could learn them. It also noted that warp genjutsu were the most difficult type of genjutsu to learn, as it combined a significant level of both illusion and status. And with that, the book ended.

With a sigh, Kotaru put the book at his side. He had learned a lot, and it was a bit overwhelming to think about. He had quite a ways to go in his journey to completely master genjutsu and be acknowledged by those around him. But it was a challenge that the Akari was more than willing to undertake.

3,102 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainingShow

Whispers on the Wind
D-Ranked Illusion Genjutsu
After performing the necessary hand seals, Kotaru places a finger over his lips and makes a shushing noise. When the target either sees this motion or hears the shushing noise, the genjutsu activates. The target will then hear whispers, barely audible and unintelligible. They can be quite distracting to the target and make them lose focus momentarily. The genjutsu lasts three posts.

Kotaru found that the most annoying part of learning genjutsu was that it required another person. A shinobi could train almost everything else alone. For taijutsu, one could certainly practice against a sparring dummy and be fine. The same went for ninjutsu. A lonely genin such as Kotaru could learn ninjutsu by simply throwing them at a training dummy or even in an empty field. Genjutsu, on the other hand, was easiest to learn if another person was involved. Kotaru reckoned he could try to use genjutsu on himself, but that would be rather silly.

Unfortunately for the Akari, he didn’t have many friends to ask to train genjutsu with him. In fact, Kotaru had zero true friends. He had several acquaintances from his academy days, but that was about it. Most shinobi balked at the prospect of being subject to the discomfort of being placed under genjutsu. As a result, Kotaru had to rely on tutors or practice partner assigned to him by the village.

The boy had applied for a practice partner. He expected to have to wait a while, but to his surprised, he was assinged a partner only two days after he submitted his application. The letter he received told him the time and designated place of his training, and he happily arrived there one sunny afternoon. His training partner was a chuunin named Aruki, a young man who was a bit too cheery for Kotaru’s taste. But if he was willing to be subject to Kotaru’s genjutsu then the Akari would put up with his too-wide smile.

After their greetings, Kotaru got started. He briefly explained the technique he wanted to train. It was a rather simple technique, he thought. He merely wanted to create an illusion genjutsu that would have the target hear what he called whispers on the wind. Kotaru formed a set of seals that he believed would be best for channeling his chakra for the technique. He had long ago decided on a trigger: he simply raised his fingers to his lips as if telling someone to be silent.

When he did this motion, he activated the genjutsu by releasing his chakra and focusing on affecting the chakra of his training partner. He focused especially on the chakra that would flow towards his ears and auditory centers of the brain. “Let me know if you notice any changes,” Kotaru commanded, and Aruki nodded obediently. For a moment, Aruki looked thoughtful and Kotaru thought he might be a genius who developed a new jutsu and mastered it on the first try. But alas, Aruki shook his head.

“Nope, I don’t notice anything different.”

Kotaru cursed and tried again. Perhaps he hadn’t focused enough, he thought, on altering Aruki’s chakra flow. Once again, Kotaru lifted a single finger to his lips, and he felt the chakra within him change. The genin watched his opponent carefully, and Aruki looked up and around as if confused. When the chuunin didn’t say anything for nearly a minute, Kotaru huffed. “Well?" he demanded. “Do you notice anything?”

“I’m not sure,” Aruki responded dumbly. Kotaru wanted to throttle him. All he could do was try again. He took a moment to think about what could possibly be going wrong. He could feel his own chakra changing as he activated the genjutsu, so perhaps there was something wrong on Aruki’s end, or in the way Kotaru attempted to alter his partner’s chakra flow. With that in mind, Kotaru formed the seals again, and lifted his finger to trigger the genjutsu. He focused a bit more on his chakra and changed the way it molded within him.

This time, Aruki’s eyebrows lifted quizzically. Did he do it? Could he hear the intended whispers? “Well?” the genin asked again.

“I uh…I’m not sure. I think I heard something? It was really faint and it only lasted for a few seconds.”

A start, Kotaru thought. It was a start. But there was still something not quite right with the genjutsu. He had a sudden idea. Perhaps his chakra wasn’t being molded correctly. The genin altered his hand seals by adding a new seal and removing another. The seal he added would allow him to control his chakra a bit further and a bit differently. Once the seals were formed, he lifted his finger to his lips again.

This time, Aruki’s confusion was rather intense. He turned his head as if turning it towrads a sound, and he cocked his head to the left. Kotaru could feel his heartrate increase. Perhaps this time he had done it. He continued to watch Aruki, who was starting to look troubled. His brow furrowed and his head dipped forward. It was almost as if he was trying to move his head closer to a sound to hear it better. Kotaru couldn’t help but smirk.

“You alright?” he wondered aloud.

“Yeah. Yeah,” Aruki responded, though he still appeared puzzled. “I hear whispering. It’s like…I’m trying to figure out what it’s saying, but I can barely make it out.”

Victory. He had done it. Kotaru released the genjutsu, and the puzzled look on Aruki’s face slowly vanished. “Was that your genjutsu?”

“Maybe,” Kotaru said as he formed the seals again. He wanted to be sure he could perform this technique. But this time, instead of putting his finger over his lips, his made a hissing, shushing noise to initiate the genjutsu. When he did so, the troubled look on Aruki’s face returned.

“You’re definiely doing that, Akari-san,” he mumbled as he leaned his head in either direction to better hear the whispers. “What are they whispering about? I can’t make it out.” Kotaru wanted to tell him not to bother. No matter how hard Aruki tried, he wasn’t going to be able to make out any intelligible words. After all, that was the nature of his genjutsu.

963 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

Warnings on the Wind
C-Ranked Illusion Genjutsu
After performing the necessary hand seals, Kotaru places a finger over his lips and makes a shushing noise. When the target both sees the motion and hears the shushing noise, the genjutsu activates. The target will then hear low, audible voices that are just above a whisper of friends or loved ones warning the target to keep their distance or run away. The genjutsu lasts seven posts.

“Let’s keep going,”Kotaru suggested. The next genjutsu he wanted to learn was similar to the last, but it was a bit more complicated. In fact, if everything went well, this genjutsu would be the first step in Kotaru learning stronger illusion genjutsu, and it would be his first attempt to learn more powerful techniques. His partner Aruki nodded and seemed to mentally prepare himself for what was ahead.

Kotaru formed another set of seals, this one a bit different than before. The string of seals was slightly longer, but it contained many of the same seals. Once he formed the seals, he lifted his finger to rest atop his lips, and he simultaneously made a shushing noise. Aruki paid close attention, and there was no doubt that he both heard the noise and saw the motion. When he did, the genjutsu activated.

The genin could feel his chakra mold within him, and when the genjutsu activated, he felt it change. He was sure that his opponent’s chakra also changed within him, especially the chakra that flowed to his ears and the auditory center of his brain. This genjutsu also used a bit more chakra than the one he trained just before. That was, of course, necessary and understanable because this technique was a bit stronger than the last.

“Again, let me know if you notice any changes and tell me what they are.”

Aruki again nodded obediently, and Kotaru found that he rather liked being listened to, especially when it was someone who was both older than him and outranked him. His training partner frowned in the same way he had earlier when he was able to hear the low, unintelligible whispers. After a moment, he said, “Yeah, I hear something. Whispers again. I think it may be louder than before, but not by much. I still can’t tell what they’re saying or anything. It just sounds like,” and with that, Aruki imitated what he heard. Judging by the noises he made, Aruki could only hear whispering that didn’t seem to be saying any real words, or anything in particular.

Kotaru hummed in acknowledgement and paused to think again. He wanted the whispers to no longer be whispers, and he wanted Aruki to be able to make out words. Specific words, even. Words in familiar that would warn him to stay away from Kotaru and even run away. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there yet. So he tried again. He formed the same seals and focused on his chakra. He changed the way it molded within him slightly, making it flow with a bit more urgency. Perhaps that’s what he was doing wrong. The way his chakra flowed was much too similar to the pace that it flowed when he was initiating his weaker genjutsu. Once he was satisfied with how he molded his chakra, he lifted his finger to his lips again and made a hissing, shushing noise.

When Akari saw and heard this trigger, his demeanor changed a bit. The confused look on his features returned, and Kotaru was grateful that the chuunin was rather easy to read. This time the time between Kotaru’s initiation of the jutsu and Aruki’s response was quite lenghthy. It was as if Aruki wanted to make sure he was actually hearing something. Just as Kotaru was beginning to lose his patience, his training partner spoke up.

“Yeah, uh,” he began, “I still hear whispers, but I can tell it’s louder this time. I can make out some words now.” Kotaru smiled and waited for the chuunin to continue. But when he didn’t say anything else, the genin had to prod him.

“That’s great,” he sighed, the irritation rather obvious in his voice if Aruki actually paid attention. “What words can you make out?”

“No,” Aruki responded quickly.

“What?” The genin’s eyes narrowed, and he found that he was a bit offended. What did this guy mean my no?

“No,” Aruki repeated, his tone lower and more definitive. After a second, Kotaru realized that ‘no’ was the word that the chuunin could make out.

“Is that all? Anything else?”

“Yeah. I also heard ‘don’t.’ Does that make sense?”

Kotaru responded in the affirmative and formed the seals again. He was on the right track, but he had to make it so his training partner could hear more words, and be sure about what he was hearing. Once again he formed the same seals and focused on the chakra molding within him. It seemed that making the chakra flow with more intensity had improved the way the genjutsu manifested, so he tried that again. He made his own chakra flow within him with even more vigor. It wasn’t quite violent, but it flowed with a sense of purpose. As it did, he was certain that he was on the right track.

With a finger raised to his lips, Kotaru once again made the shushing noise. When he did, Aruki blinked, and it was evident that he had fallen under the influence of the genjutsu. Aruki blinked again, and again, and again. His head cocked to the side, and his eyes fluttered closed. When he did this, Kotaru let a small sneer mar his features. Although he was grateful that Aruki was helping him train genjutsu with no complaints, he found that the chuunin’s mannerisms were a bit annoying. Perhaps he was being impatient, but he wished the other shinobi was a bit more stoic. The only good thing about Aruki being expressive is that it was rather easy to tell when he was under the influence of the genjutsu. At least Kotaru knew that he was doing well with manipulating Aruki’s charka flow and placing him under the illusion. When he was younger, the Akari found that manipulating a part of someone else that he could neither see nor feel was the most difficult part of using genjutsu.

Aruki stayed silent for several minutes, and in that time, Kotaru sat down on the ground. The boy leaned forward and propped his elbow on his knee and rested his chin in his palm. This was probably going to take awhile. Finally, Aruki opened his eyes and frowned.

“More loud whispering.” Kotaru scoffed. ‘Loud whispering,’ he said. “I can still just barely make out the words. I can tell it’s several different voices. They said things like, ‘No,’ ‘stay away,’ and ‘be careful.’ There were other things, but it was hard to make out.”

Good, good. He was definitely getting better with this. Without standing back up, Kotaru formed the same seals again. The chakra molded fiercely within him, and he focused even mor on Aruki. He really wanted Aruki to be able to make out the words of the voices. Not only that, but he wanted the voices to be familiar ones to him. He didn’t particularly care who. It could be his mother, his girlfriend, or his teammates. So long as he heard the voices of those close to him warning him to stay away from Kotaru, it would be a victory.

This time, he would get it. He raised his finger to his lis and shushed again. This time, when the other shinobi fell into the genjutsu, the puzzled look on his face didn’t last long. It changed rapidly from confusion to an expression tinged with fear. The color drained from Aruki’s face quite a bit, and he stared at Kotaru with much apprehension.

This pleased the boy, and he couldn’t help but smile innocently. Or rather, as innocently as the cruel genin could manage. “Yes? Something wrong?”

“It’s…I hear my parents…and my teammates.” He said this as if he couldn’t believe it. His brow furrowed and his frown deepened. “They’re…they’re saying ‘get away.’ ‘Stay away.’ ‘He’s dangerous.’ ‘He’ll kill you if you don’t run away right now.’ I dont…. It’s barely above a whisper, but I can hear what they’re saying. What’re you…?”

Kotaru was satisfied when he heard this. More than satisfied. He was elated, and as he released the genjutsu, he relished in the distressed look on Aruki’s face. It excited him, and it made him eager to continue learning genjutsu.

1,339 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

Mouth Rot
C-Ranked Illusion Genjutsu
After performing the needed hand seals, Kotaru makes physical contact with the target to activate the genjutsu. The target will then have a horrible taste in their mouth, similiar to spoiled milk mixed with rotten meat. Depending on how sensitive their sense of taste is, this technique can cause nausea or even vomiting. This genjutsu lasts 4 posts.

When Kotaru released his last genjutsu, he paid close attention to Aruki’s reaction and demeanor. Earlier he was annoyingly cheery, and he seemed eager to help Kotaru. Now, however, Kotaru could clearly see the blossoming of mental strain on the chuunin. The genin was cruel and he found pleasure in this small amount of suffereing. However, he wasn’t done with Aruki yet.

“Are you good to keep going?” Kotaru inquired, and he was amused at Aruki’s response. Just before, he was frowning as if he were troubled, but when he heard Kotaru’s question he perked up a bit. The Akari wasn’t exactly fooled and he could clearly see that Aruki’s eagerness to assist Kotaru had diminished slightly. Perhaps he was still thinking about how he heard his loved ones warning him to keep his distance from Kotaru.

The genin formed a string of seals again. These were quite different than the seals he had used before, mostly because it was an entirely different technique that would target an entirely different sense. Had he more empathy, he would probably feel bad for what he was about to subject Aruki to. But of course, he didn’t care, and he focused all of his attention to molding his chakra within him. He had learned from his previous technique that in order to produce stronger genjutsu, he had to have his chakra flow within him with more urgency and purpose. A gentler flow of his chakra simply wouldn’t do. When he was satisfied with his chakra flow, he turned his attention to Aruki.

His next technique would affect the sense of taste. This was territory that Kotaru had not yet explored. It would be his first attempt to alter someone's sense of taste. Not only that, but it was a rather strong technique for him. It would require much of his focus and attention. He centered his attention to Aruki’s charka flow around his jaw and mouth. That was a good place to start. Kotaru started to move toward Aruki with slow, purposeful steps.

“I want to thank you, Aruki,” he mused, and he didn’t fail to miss the flash of irritation across Aruki’s features. It was certainly due to the way the Akari addressed him without any sort of formality or honorific attached to Aruki’s name. “I don’t often have the opportunity to train genjutsu because it requires a partner. You certainly didn’t have to agree to helping me, but I thank you for it.”

Aruki visibly squirmed as Kotaru thanked him. Perhaps he was starting to be creeped out by the boy. With every step Kotaru took forward, the other shinobi tensed. By the time Kotaru was standing directly in front of the young chuunin, he was visibly stiff, and his jaw was clenched rather tightly. Aruki was considerably taller than Kotaru. While the genin stood at a modest four foot ten inches, Aruki was at least five foot ten. The chuunin was certainly pushing six feet. Not only that, but he had a bit of muscle about him. But despite the physical advantage he had over Kotaru, the chuunin was undoubtedly rather disturbed by the kid before him.

Kotaru smiled and placed a rather gentle hand on Aruki’s bicep. “Are you alright?” he asked, trying to distract the other shinobi from the fact that this simple touch was all he needed to activate his genjutsu. When he did, he noticed Aruki smacked his mouth a bit. His frown deepened as he smacked his lips again, and after a moment he did his best to force a smile. It looked crooked and almost grotesque.

“Yeah, I’m fine. You’re…you’re welcome.” As he talked, his expression soured, and he smacked his mouth a few more times. He even coughed and stuck his tongue out a bit.

Tapping into his latent acting ability, Kotaru frowned and feigned concern. “What’s the matter with your mouth?”

“I don’t know,” Aruki replied. He seemed a bit distressed, and he turned away from Kotaru and stuck his tongue out of his mouth. The genin’s eyes widened and he waited for the expressive chuunin to tell him what he was experiencing. “I just suddenly got a weird taste in my mouth. It was…it was milk, maybe? I don’t know. I dunno, it was so sudden.”

Not strong enough, Kotaru thought. While the chuunin’s back was turned, Kotaru released the genjutsu and quickly formed the seals again. He focused on molding his chakra quickly and efficiently so that he could initiate the jutsu as soon as his training partner turned around. Finally, after what was clearly several confused moments for Aruki, he turned back around. Kotaru continued to smile, and he touched his partner again, this time on his forearm.

“You really don’t look so good,” the cruel boy commented. Aruki quickly denied this and ensured Kotaru that he was fine. Kotaru was rather pleased that he other ninja didn’t seem to realize it had been another genjutsu. That was fine and all, but it also meant that perhaps his genjutsu wasn’t strong enough. So when he touched Aruki again, he initiated the genjutsu. This time the reaction was more immediate and more dramatic. Aruki seemed to gag, and he backed up from Kotaru with several rapid steps.

“Oh, yuck! What is that? What did you just do? Oh man, that’s gross!”

“What is it?”

“Don’t play dumb, kid! You’re weird as hell, do you know that? Could you at least give me some warning?” The color in Aruki’s face drained with every word, and soon enough his skin flushed with a sickly shade of green.

“It’s no fun if I give you warning,” Kotaru retorted as Aruki continued to sputter and gag. “But while we’re here, what are you experiencing?”

“Do you have to ask?” Aruki yelled. His carefree and kind demeanor was quickly vanishing. The serious nature that many Iwagakure shinobi possessed replaced his cheer, and Kotaru found the change in personality was rather delightful. “There’s a disgusting taste in my mouth! It taste like old milk! Like, I can almost fell the rotten curds on my tongue!”

“Fascinating,” Kotaru quipped as he released the genjutsu. Based on his partner’s tone and the worsening of his complexion, their training session was likely at an end. Kotaru wasn’t quite done with the chuunin yet, so he formed the seals again.

“No, no, don’t do that again,” Aruki moaned. It almost sounded like he was begging Kotaru not to perform the genjutsu again. This time, the boy couldn’t hide his pleasure. He gave a short, cold chortle and his bright green eyes glistened with delight.

“Don’t worry,” the Akari lied, “I won’t do it again. I’ll do something different this time, something more tame.”

The chuunin didn’t seem convinced. Although he was no longer under the influence of the genjutsu Kotaru had lovingly deemed Mouth Rot, he still looked quite a bit nauseated. Kotaru formed his seals again. He felt that he didn't need to change much of what he did this time. The hand seals were adequate, and the way his chakra molded was great. But he wanted the reaction from his partner to be a little more intense, so he molded just a bit more of his chakra.

Aruki recoiled a bit when the seals were finished. Kotaru put on his best sympathetic face, and he once again touched the other shinobi. This time he placed both hands on either of Aruki’s shoulders. The touch was meant to be a bit soothing, but there was nothing about neither the situation nor the look in Kotaru’s eyes that could possibly put Aruki at ease. He tensed up as soon as Kotaru’s hands touched him, but he didn’t seem to fully register that the genjutsu was triggered by Kotaru’s touch.

With the genjutsu activated, Kotaru took several, quick steps backwards. It was a good thing too, because almost immediately Aruki’s hand shot up toward his mouth and he gagged violently. The taste of spoiled milk mixed with rotten meat must have been awful.

“You…!” Aruki started, but as soon as the word left his mouth he gagged again. He coughed a few times before adding, “What is this? It’s like…spoiled milk and rotten meat! Kid, you’re-“ He couldn’t finish due to the attack of dry heaving that erupted. Kotaru watched him for several moments that must have seemed like forever to the chuunin. Only when Aruki fell to his knees with his tongue protruding from his mouth did Kotaru release the genjutsu.

The effect remained. The taste seemed to linger in Aruki’s mouth. Kotaru offered up no apology. The chuunin knew he had signed up to be subject to genjutsu, so there was no need. When the rancid taste in his mouth finally subsided, Aruki looked up at the boy with tears brimming in his eyes.

“You’re a fucked up kid,” he choked.

Indeed he was.

1465 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

Northern Air
C-Ranked Illusion Genjutsu
After performing the needed hand seals, Kotaru places his hands on both arms and rub them as if shivering. Once the target sees this motion, the genjutsu is activated. The target will then feel extremely cold and begin shiver. Their fingers will feel numb, which will make forming seals and holding weapons difficult. The target will also see their breath condense in the air as if breathing on a cold day. The genjutsu lasts as long as Kotaru appears to be shivering. If he stops the motion, the genjutsu will last two posts after he stops the motion.

Aruki seemed like he had enough. When the foul taste in his mouth from Kotaru’s genjutsu finally subsided, he stood up and turned as if leaving.

“Where are you going?”

"I'm out of here!”

Kotaru fell in step behind him and placed his hands casually behind his head. “Need I remind you that you’re obligated to help me train for another hour and a half?”

“Don’t care,” Aruki spat. He truly was tired of helping Kotaru with his genjutsu, but the boy only found it amusing. He continued to follow the chuunin, and when they were nearly out of the training grounds, the genin spoke up again.

“If you leave, I won’t pay you.”

“Don’t. Care.”

He smirked. “Of course you do. The only reason anyone would train like this with a stranger with only a vague idea what they’re getting into is for the money. Don’t tell me you’re okay with leaving here after being put under all those genjutsu empty handed.” His words seemed to work, and Aruki stopped walking and gave a heavy sigh. After another moment of pause, the genin added, “Just a few more and you can leave. And it won’t be nearly as bad as that last one.”[/color]

Aruki whirled around with disgust and distrust in his eyes. “You said that last time. You’ve proved you’re a liar.”

“All shinobi lie,” Kotaru deadpanned. Clearly the boy wasn’t moved by any of his training partner’s emotions or objections. “It’s part of the job. It’s how we get things done a lot of the time.”

Aruki finally relented and returned with Kotaru to their section of the training grounds. By this time it was nearly dark, and there was a distinct chill in the air. Perfect. Kotaru formed a string of hand seals. These seals were nothing like the ones he used earlier. He lost count of how many times he focused on his chakra within him, but he found that he was getting better at that. The set of seals he formed were those he believed would be best for channeling his chakra for the technique. He had long ago decided on a trigger, and the environment would helpfully conceal it for the first few times he performed it against Aruki.

After he formed the seals and molded his chakra, he focused on the way Aruki’s chakra should be flowing. Instead of focusing on one specific part of his body, Kotaru would have to focus on the other shinobi’s chakra flow on a broader area, which happened to be his entire body. It was an illusion of touch, he figured, that would affect the chuunin’s entire body. Once Kotaru was satisfied with the flow of chakra within his, the wrapped his hands around arms as if he was preparing to shiver to warm himself up. With this motion, the genjutsu activated.

Aruki kept his eyes on Kotaru, though it was obvious that at this point he didn’t want to. But no matter; with Kotaru’s trigger, he was quickly placed under the influence of the genjutsu. Kotaru waited patiently to see if there was any difference in Aruki’s demeanor. When the chuunin didn’t say anything, Kotaru feigned shivering again. “A bit cold out here now, isn’t it?”

“I guess,” Aruki responded, the eagerness in his voice long gone. The genin frowned. He couldn't even tell if the other shinobi was affected by the genjutsu or not. After a moment of glaring at the chuunin, Kotaru spoke up.

“How cold do you feel?”

That’s all it took for Aruki to figure out what kind of genjutsu the boy was going for. He visibility relaxed and a small smile returned to his face. Apparently a genjutsu that made one cold was much more preferable over one that made you nearly vomit for a rancid taste in the mouth.

“Not that cold. Just a little chilly. I can’t tell but it might just be from the time of day.”

Great. He couldn’t tell. That was all Kotaru needed to know that he needed to ramp things up a notch. He formed the seals again, and this time he dedicated more chakra to the technique. The chakra ebbed and flowed within him, and he closed his eyes for a moment to focus. He figured that he didn’t have to use too much more chakra, but it would help if he molded it a bit more. Not only that, but he had to focus on altering the chakra throughout Aruki’s body so he would feel the desired effect.

After several moments of concentrating on his chakra and the chakra of his opponent, Kotaru brought his arms up to his sides again and held himself. With this, the genjutsu activated, and the boy opened his eyes. This time, he could tell the genjutsu had more of an effect. Aruki shivered, his jaw chattering noisily for a few moments before he got it under control. “Whoa, what a chill,” the chuunin commented rather uselessly.

Kotaru rolled his eyes. “That’s all you felt? A chill?”

“Yep. But it’s gone now.”

The genin groaned internally. He wasn't very close to mastering the technique. Once again, he formed the hand seals for the genjutsu, but he added one more seal so that he could focus the chakra within him more. He also hoped it would allow him to manipulate Aruki’s flow of chakra better than he had been doing before. This time when Kotaru wrapped his hands around his arms, he felt he was closer.

When the genjutsu activated, Aruki frowned, a tell tale sign that he was under the genjutsu and it was having an effect. The chuunin also raised his hands and wrapped them around himself. Good, good. That at least meant that the guy was really feeling the cold effect. Akuri stood there for a moment rubbing the sides of his arms, trying to get warm. His jaw chattered periodically, and he started to look a bit uncomfortable. Perhaps the chuunin didn’t much like being cold, Kotaru thought.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cold. I hate being cold.” Heh, he was right when he thought the chuunin didn’t much care for being cold.

“What about your fingers? Can you move them?”

With that, Aruki unwrapped his hands from around himself and flexed his fingers. “Yeah, I guess. Maybe I’m not as cold as I thought, my fingers feel fine.”

Damn it. Kotaru really wanted Aruki’s fingers to be nearly completely numb to the point it was slightly painful to move his fingers around. But the way Aruki wiggled his fingers told Kotaru that wasn’t the case. Sure, the guy was cold, but not cold enough.

“Alright, I’m gonna try again,” he announced as he released the genjutsu. Aruki nodded, and although he had said he didn’t like being cold, he didn’t seem anywhere as distressed as he did when Kotaru used the Mouth Rot technque against him. Kotaru formed the same set of seals and focused even more on molding his chakra. He made the flow of his own chakra pick up in intensity, and this time he focused more on this than manipulating Aruki’s chakra. He was overthinking it and underestimating his abilities. His own chakra flowed within him vigorously, and he had faith that with his level of chakra control, he could manipulate Aruki’s to do the same without thinking too hard about it.

Then, Kotaru wrapped his hands around his arms, the sign that he was initiating the genjutsu. His chakra spiked, then calmed, and he knew at that point Aruki was under the genjutsu. The difference was quite dramatic. Aruki started shivering immediately, and he looked rather uncomfortable.

“Try to form seals,” Kotaru commanded, and he continued to hold his arms as if he too were cold. Aruki obliged, and when he moved to make hand seals, it was noticably difficult for him to do so. It appeared his fingers were stiff with cold.

“It’s k-kinda d-d-difficult to make seals,” the chuunin responded. Pleased, Kotaru then told him to take a kunai and try to throw it. Aruki had trouble with this too, and his fingers moved stiffly to grab the kunai and keep hold of it. “M-man, I can even s-s-s-see my b-breath,” Aruki added. With that, Kotaru watched him shiver for a few more minutes, just to make sure the genjutsu could last as long as he wanted. Finally, he released the genjutsu, satisfied with the technique.

1,379 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

Sidearm
C-Ranked Illusion Genjutsu
After performing the needed hand seals, Kotaru moves his melashiin in an undulating motion and then the tips of the tendrils will curl inward. When the target sees this motion, this illusion of force genjutsu will activate. For the duration of one post, the target will begin to feel as though their arms are being bound at their sides. During this period, if the target realizes they are under genjutsu, they can physically break the illusion if their strength is 10 or greater, or kai out if possible. After this one post period, the target will be unable to lift their arms from their sides for three posts.

His training session with Aruki was nearly complete. He had managed to teach himself three new genjutsu in a very short amount of time. Kotaru was feeling confident, and as the chuunin vigorously shook himself to get rid of the lingering chill he felt, the boy was already forming an other set of hand seals. This string was even longer than the others, with several of the same relatively complex signs. This technique would be a true test of both his chakra control and his prowess with genjutsu in general. It would be a new type of illusion genjutsu: illusion of force.

Kotaru had read about this genjutsu type only briefly from a library book. During his academy days, the sensei had neglected to go in detail about illusion of force genjutsu. In fact, the man had barely mentioned it at all. He had only said it was possible to create an illusion that someone was pulling, pushing, or evoking some sort of force against a target. As a result of his poor exposure to illusion of force genjutsu, Kotaru would truly have to focus and experiment with hand seals and chakra control.

Aruki was clearly ready to go. The young chuunin kept looking toward the rising moon as if it were a clock, and he was counting down the seconds until he could escape Kotaru’s presence. The genin didn’t care much that he was beginning to make Aruki uncomfortable. The man knew what he had signed up for, and he felt no sympathy towards his discomfort. Kotaru finally focused on the chakra within himself and began to alter its flow and mold it. He wasn’t if he should make the flow gentler or more fierce, so he decided to first try to explore the middle ground. With his eyes closed, he continued to concentrate. The chakra flowed steadily within him, powerful and strong, as Kotaru exercised his control over it.

When the boy was satisfied that his chakra control and flow was at a good point, the boy then channeled chakra to the base of his spine. His melashiin erupted from his lower back, and when they were at their full length they swayed and wiggled gently behind him. The sight of the shiin made Aruki uneasy, and he crouched slightly and made his hands into fists and slide one foot behind him as if he were going on the defensive. Kotaru wasn’t sure why he did so; that kind of stance wouldn’t help him fight off his genjutsu.

The genin smiled as he started to inititate the trigger. His melashiin spread behind him in a fan, two on each side and one above him. Once the tendrils were in position, the curled in, similar to the motion someone would make if they tried to make their hands into claws. Aruki thankfully kept his wary eyes on the shiin, and because he saw the motion, he fell under the genjutsu.

At first, nothing happened. The two merely stared each other down, waiting for the other to either speak or make a move. But then, as Kotaru continued to concentrate, he noticed a change in Aruki. The chuunin started to look uncomfortable. His arms began shaking, slightly at first, and then more violently. “What the-?!” Aruki’s entire face tensed, his jaw clenched, and he groaned and struggled as his arms continued to violently shake. After a few moments, his arms began to dip down towards his sides. Aruki appeared to be trying to fight it, but he was losing.

Just as it appeared this would be an easy victory, Aruki gave a mighty shout and lifted his arms violently, raising them almost over his head. With that, his arms stopped shaking, and Kotaru could tell he had broken out of the jutsu.

Odd, the genin thought. Aruki definitely didn’t use kai to escape the genjutsu, so why had the genjutsu been forcefully ended? Kotaru frowned when he formed the seals again, and he paid close attention to Aruki’s current state. The chuunin was panting as if he had just finished a somewhat strenuous workout. There was a sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead and arms, and then it dawned on the boy. Somehow Aruki had physically escaped the genjutsu. He racked his head for information about illusion of force genjutsu. All he could remember at the time was that the genjutsu had a physical effect on opponents.

Still thinking, he formed the same hand seals as before and molded the chakra within him again. The previous time seemed to work alright, but clearly it wasn’t right somehow. Perhaps he should intensify the flow of his own chakra. With that in mind, he curled his melashiin again. Thankfully Aruki hadn’t taken his eyes off him, so once again he fell into the genjutsu. Again, it took a moment for Aruki to show that he was actually under the genjutsu. But soon, his arms began to shake again. It simply looked like he was shivering, but as only his arms were shaking, that clearly wasn’t the case.

Aruki seemed to be fighting the force again. His teeth were gritted, and he moaned and gasped as his arms seemed to betray him. He looked as though he was trying to lift them but he wasn’t really getting anywhere with it. He took a few steps to the side as if that would help him, then he moved back to his original position. His gaze dropped from Kotaru and to his arms, and it seemed like he was trying to focus on regaining control over his own arms. He struggled for several minutes, but yet again, he gave a mighty yell, and his arms dropped limply to his side. The chuunin panted as he grabbed his wrist with his opposite hand, then started to massage his arms. He looked as if he was in pain or his arms were strained.

Kotaru knew he was almost there, so without even asking Aruki if he was okay for another go, he formed the same seals again. This time when he molded his chakra within him, he lessened the ebb and flow so that it wasn’t quite as intense. It was still forceful, however, which made sense since this was a technique about strength.

And then it came to him. Kotaru suddenly recalled a tiny passage in his library book about illusion of force genjutsu. Due to the nature of illusion of force genjutsu, it read, an opponent could not only escape the jutsu with kai but they could also escape with their own physical strenghth.

Kotaru frowned and rolled his eyes. Well, that was just great. He didn’t like that there was more than one way for his target to escape this genjutsu. He would have to be careful when using this genjutsu in case he came across a very physically strong opponent. If they were strong enough, they could physically break the genjutsu and Kotaru will have used his technique for nothing and wasted precious time and chakra.

The genin waited for Aruki to look up again before he inititated the trigger again. Once was sure the chuunin was looking at his shiin, he curled the tips of them again. This time, when Aruki fell into the genjutsu, the effect was immediate. His arms began to shake violently, and Aruki looked as though he was trying his absolute best to fight off the technique. It seemed even more difficult for him to do so this time, and Kotaru figured it was because the technique was stronger this time around.

Aruki struggled and struggled, fighting to keep his arms from pinning themselves to his side. He was sweating in earnest now, and sweating colorfully out loud. Kotaru found it amusing that the chuunin, who was so cheery at the beginning of their training session, was now tired and struggling and it was all due to his genjutsu techniques.

After several minutes, Aruki lost the battle with himself. His arms pinned themselves firmly to his sides, and Aruki wiggled from side to side as he tried to break free. Apparently he wasn’t quite strong enough to do so. Kotaru gave him time to try to break out of the genjutsu with his physical strength again as he did before.

“Are you not going to break free like you did the last few times?” he chided. Aruki cursed his mother in return, and Kotaru laughed. “You could always kai out.” Aruki cursed again, and Kotaru could only assume it was because he had already tried and failed to kai out. With that, Kotaru uncurled his shiin and dismissed them, and then he released the genjutsu. When he did, Aruki fell to his knees, panting heavily and shaking.

Kotaru walked past him to leave the training grounds, and when he did, he paused to place a hand on Aruki’s shaking shoulder. “Good work today,” he said with a cruel smirk, and he left Aruki alone to recover.

1499 words

[Kao]

Genjutsu Training

Kotaru had gotten pretty good with genjutsu, and he was almost impressed with himself. But there was still a lot for him to learn, and some things just couldn’t be learned from books. He needed to practice, but unfortunately for the genin, he had gained a reputation for being cruel to the people who tried to train him. Mitsuo was, unfortunately, unavailable to help him train, and Kotaru wasn’t even sure if he wanted to train genjutsu with Mitsuo. The techniques he new were especially unpleasant, and the by didn’t want to torture his only friend with his mind games.

One late summer day, he had somehow found someone who was willing to train with him. It was a young female genin who was also trying to improve with genjutsu. She seemed undeterred about Kotaru’s reputation for cruelty and she met him at one of Iwagakure’s training grounds. She introduced herself, but the boy was uninterested in engaging in pleasantries.

Without saying a word, he formed hand seals then raised his finger to his lips to initiate one of his favorite genjutsu: Warnings on the Wind. It was one of the first C ranked genjutsu had learned, and he enjoyed seeing the look of confusion and fear on his opponents’ faces when it kicked up. The girl grimaced and her body tensed, but otherwise she didn’t seem affected by the words of warning that were surely filing her ears. For a moment, the girl hesitated, but then she pulled out a kunai and then rushed forward to aim a stab towards Kotaru’s chest

The genin jerked his body backwards to avoid the move, simultaneously sending a rush of chakra to the small of his back. A single tendril erupted behind him and smacked her head. It wasn’t a terribly strong hit, but it was enough to send the girl stumbling backwards. Her eyes still looked apprehensive due to the genjutsu, and Kotaru took the moment to initiate another genjutsu.

This time instead of forming hand seals the boy channeled his chakra throughout his body and a faint glow surrounded him. The girl’s eyes widened; not many people knew that Kotaru had learned to initiate genjutsu by channeling his chakra, and she would be the first person to experience this. It was something the boy still wasn’t quite used to, so he took slightly longer than what was necessary to channel the chakra properly. But when he got it down, he rushed the girl and before she could react, he placed both hands on her shoulders. Just as his hands touched her, his melashiin tendril moved between them and undulated then curled inwards.

His sparring partner gasped and began shaking as she began experiencing a force pushing down on her body. To her it would likely feel like Kotaru was doing it physically and not with the genjutsu, which was the point of him placing his hands on her shoulders. The girl was aware, of course, that he was a genjutsu user due to the training request he had filled and she had answered. But he wondered if she would be able to recognize this as a genjutsu and not a physical attack.

His answer came when she raised her hands to grab his hands, and pushed them off of her. But her body was still being forced down, and the sensation coupled with the warnings that still filled her ears seemed to terrify her. She somehow managed to raise her hands and fold them together in a hand seal, and the girl shut her eyes attempted to kai out of the genjutsu.

Kotaru watched with interest, waiting to see if she had succeeded. But he could soon tell that she was still under both of the genjutsu, and that she wasn’t quite skilled enough to cancel genjutsu of this level. Not only that, but her strength was not up to par; she was unable to use her physical strength to break out of the jutsu he had lovingly called Bend the Knee. She opened her eyes wide with shock and began to groan. Whether the noise was in pain or fear, the boy wasn’t sure. But he nonetheless enjoyed her turmoil. Cocking his head and grinning, he perfomed the hand seals for his Sidearm technique, and for a moment he questioned if he would be able to have three genjutsu active at the same time. Performing multiple genjutsu at once was something he had not ever tried before, but if he was able to succeed it said a lot about his improving skill with the art.

After he performed the seals, his melashiin undulated again and curled inward, and he took extra care to put the tendril almost directly in her face so she would be certain to see it despite her panic. When the genjutsu activated, her arms began to slowly inch to her sides, and it seemed she was trying desperately to move against the motion and prevent her arms from being forced to her side. She failed, however, and after what must have seemed like ages to the girl, her arms moved firmly to her side. The young genin would certainly be unable to cancel the genjutsu now.

Kotaru was sweating slightly at that point, but it didn’t seem to bother him. He would continue to push himself by using as many genjutsu a possible. He performed more seals and used a weaker genjutsu, Smell of the Deceased, and the girl looked as though she would vomit. Then, the boy formed the seals for Mouth Rot, one of his favorite techniques, and the girl began gagging and spitting. After a few minutes of this she leaned over as much as her body would allow and vomited, tears streaming down her face as she emptied her stomach.

Surprisingly, Kotaru wasn’t especially tired, though he could feel a bit of a strain the longer the session went on. He decided to wrap it up, but no before unleashing a new genjutsu that he had recently developed. The Akari channeled his chakra and simultaneously formed seals. In a fluid motion, flames flying towards the girl. He made sure he would miss, but that didn’t stop the girl from screaming in fear as the flames stopped within arms reach of her face. The flames disappeared, but then the girl started screaming in agony. He had performed his new genjutsu, Immolation Sensation, and she writhed in pain as the sensation of her entire body being on fire overwhelmed her. Sweat dripped down her forehead and face, but the boy simply watched as she suffered.

Eventually her screams stopped when she fell unconscious. The pain had been too much and her body had given out, and she slumped over face first into ground. Since she fell unconscious, the genjutsu had automatically cancelled, so her arms fell away from her sides and sprawled on the ground. Kotaru sighed; he felt that he could probably keep going, but she hadn’t been strong enough. He kicked her over so that she wouldn’t suffocate in the dirt before he left the training ground, eager to find someone else to practice his cruel techniques.

1,189 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

Local Numbness
C-Ranked Illusion Genjutsu
After channeling his chakra, Kotaru will make physical contact with a target. Once he does, the genjutsu will activate. The target will feel a localized loss of sensation at the point of contact which spreads throughout the limb. If Kotaru makes contact with the target’s head, chest, or back, then only that area will be affected. The genjutsu not only eliminates pain in that area, but also makes the target unable to feel anything touching the area for the duration of the jutsu. This genjutsu lasts 5 posts.

Somehow Kotaru found someone else to train with. He had convinced someone who had recently graduated from the academy - a boy named Koichi - who was, for some reason, impressed with the fact that Kotaru could coldly use genjutsu on other shinobi without blinking an eye at the discomfort he caused them. He decided not to question the kid’s senses but instead use him for all he was worth. Despite the boy’s apparent eagerness, he still seemed nervous to be Kotaru’s test dummy. It seemed he was worried that he would be lightly tortured, but there was still excitement mixed in with the obvious fear in the boy’s demeanor. It was strange, but Kotaru didn’t question it.

“Alright. So, I’m gonna touch you and I need you to tell me what you feel. Or don’t feel. You’ll understand if the jutsu actually works. This won’t be anything painful by the way, so wipe that nervous grimace off your face, it’s annoying.” He graciously told the boy what he was expecting to happen, though it wasn’t out of concern. He simply wanted to make sure the effect was right once he figured out the jutsu. After briefly explaining things and ordering the other genin to hold out his arm, he channeled his chakra and then touched his partner’s arm. When he moved his hand, he asked the boy to use his opposite hand and poke the area that Kotaru just touched. The boy obliged and paused.

“What…what was supposed to happen exactly? Cause nothing’s different.”

Kotaru sighed. He’d have to try again. The thing he disliked most about developing new genjutsu was the trial and error behind it, and the fact that he needed someone else to practice on. Koichi was decent enough, but Kotaru was not at all a people person, so his reaction sent a shock of annoyance throughout the Akari’s body. “I’ll try again,” he replied as he channeled his chakra again. “You’re not supposed to feel much of anything.”

“I…don’t understand,” the younger boy said meekly, but Kotaru waved him off.

“You’ll understand when I actually get it right. And will you stop looking so nervous? You’re literally not going to feel any pain from this.” With that, he touched the boy’s opposite arm and repeated his command. Koichi poked his arm several times, but then shook his head. Kotaru couldn’t help but frown. What exactly was he doing wrong? He tried again, and this time Koichi’s face lit up in amazement.

“It’s sort of numb! I mean I can definitely feel this,” he said as he continuously poked his own arm, “but…I don’t know, it’s like it’s not a very strong feeling. This is kind of weird.”

Kotaru nodded. It seemed he was on the right track, but this wasn’t quite what he was going for. He didn’t want simple reduced sensation. He wanted the boy to not be able to feel his arm at all. He tried again, using a different approach by slightly changing how he molded his chakra before he channeled it throughout his body. Again, he touched the other boy, but he held his hand against him a little longer. Initiating genjutsu by touch was not something he was particularly adept at using. He much preferred visual triggers, and he had certainly nearly mastered initiating techniques that way.

Koichi seemed a little bored and his eyes wandered around a bit. The Akari wondered what he was thinking, but then refocused himself on his task. Finally, he removed his hand and then, while Koichi wasn’t looking, he removed a kunai from his leg pouch and gently placed the tip of it on Koichi’s skin. When the boy didn’t react, he pressed it down further. The pressure wasn’t enough to break the skin, but it was definitey something he should feel. Again, Koichi didn’t react to the touch, so Kotaru replaced the kunai back into his pouch.

“Oi.”

Koichi turned around to look quizzically in Kotaru’s direction. “What?”

“You didn’t feel that?”

“Feel what?”

Interesting. “Oh. Nothing, I guess.” He sighed as if disappointed, but in reality he was pleased. If the boy didn’t feel the kunai against his skin, then he was certainly making progress. He decided to mold his chakra along the same lines, and he waited until Koichi boredly looked away before touching him on the arm again.

This time, he placed his palm on the other boy’s arm briefly and then grabbed his kunai again. While Koichi’s gaze was on someone training nearby, the Akari pressed the tip of the kunai on his arm again. The genjutsu must have been working because Koichi didn’t even seem to notice. Kotaru continued to lightly touch the skin with the blade, even going so far as to trace characters to form words. He found it fascinating that the other boy didn’t seem as though he could feel it.

He wondered if that was the only thing he wouldn’t be able to feel. After making sure his attention was completely elsewhere, he put his finger in his mouth and got it nice and wet before he traced his saliva on Koichi’s arm. He almost laughed when the other genin didn’t notice at all. He did it again, tracing stripes of spit on the skin.

He was pretty sure the genjustu was working the way he wanted, but there was only one way to truly find out. He released the genjutsu but then channeled his chakra again. Koichi’s inattentiveness was perfect in this situation, but hopefully the boy wouldn’t have such lack of focus on a mission that became a bit boring at times. It was a sure way to get himself killed.

Kotaru touched his arm one last time, and the drew a kunai again. He pressed the tip of it down on Koichi’s skin, but this time it wasn’t at all gentle. He used enough pressure to break the skin and then he pulled the blade slowly across the skin. A thin line of blood poured from the wound, and Kotaru used the blade to draw the characters of his own name. Satisfied that the genjutsu was sucessful, he cleared his throat to get Koichi’s attention.

“Oh, sorry. Did you say something?”

The Akari gestured towards the bleeding arm, and the sight seemed to alarm him. “W-what just happened? I’m bleeding!”

“You’re fine,” Kotaru said as he wiped the blood on Koichi’s shirt. “I bet it doesn’t even hurt.”

1,059 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

Avoid Me
B-Ranked Status Genjutsu
After channeling his chakra, Kotaru will draw a kunai and throw it towards the target in front of them. Once the target sees this motion, the genjutsu will activate. The target will become apprehensive and will unconsciously try to avoid being within a five meter radius around Kotaru, and will avoid directing physical attacks, including melee and held weapon attacks, toward him. This genjutsu lasts 6 posts.

Kotaru was out of a training partner. He had pushed Aruki a bit too far, and he regretted it. Though this regret came not from concern of Aruki’s feelings or well being, but from Kotaru’s need for a guinea pig to train his new idea for a genjutsu. He put in another application for a training partner the day after he coldly tormented Aruki, and within the week he was making his way towards one of Iwagakure’s many training grounds. This time his partner was a woman. Tall and serious, the was dressed like the average chuunin and had what appeared to be a bandana around her face. She bowed at Kotaru when he approached. The genin didn't return the gesture.

“Let’s get started,” he said, and the female chuunin nodded silently. He liked her already. “I’m sure you already know, but I’m training genjutsu. All I need you to do is keep your eyes on me and watch everything I do and follow my directions. Using anything other than taijutsu is forbidden until further notice.”

“Understood.” She was perfect.

Kotaru formed the hand seals he needed and moved away from her until there were six meters between them. The string of seals he formed was a rather short one compared to the ones for the other genjutsu he had recently trained, but it was still quite lengthy. They were powerful seals that would hopefully mold the chakra the way he needed. His chakra flowed more actively within him, surging and moving more vigorously, with more purpose. The genin concentrated, and as the chakra continued to quickly mold within him, he grabbed two kunai from his pouch. “Keep your eyes on what I do, and my weapons.” His partner nodded and lowered herself into a crouch, readying herself for whatever Kotaru had in store for her.

He could imagine the woman’s chakra swirling within her, ready to be manipulated once she fell into his genjutsu. After a moment’s pause, Kotaru thrust the kunai towards her feet. The woman must have been able to tell that the trajectory of the weapon wouldn’t hit her, and she briefly took her eyes off Kotaru and watched it embed itself into the dirt.

Unbeknownst to her, that motion was the trigger for the jutsu. As soon as the genjutsu activated, Kotaru tested the effect of the technique by taking a single step forward towards his partner. She didn’t move, but her dark eyes watched him closely. He took another step forward, and then another, intruiged that she seemed so calm. When he took two more steps, he saw it. The movement was slight, but the woman’s body jerked backwards momentarily, and then once again she was still.

Kotaru hummed thoughtfully as he continued to step toward her. The purpose of the genjutsu was to force apprehension in his opponent and have them reluctant to be even near him. The woman’s slight movement made it seem like the genjutsu was having a slight effect, but Kotaru didn’t do many things halfway. He continued to step forward, and when he was within four meters of the woman, she took a large step backward.

“Come forward,” he beckoned, but the chuunin shook her head once.

“I’m still waiting to see what you will do.”

Intersting. That was a sign of hesitation, but it wasn’t enough. He took another step forward, and the woman took another step back but stopped, and she didn’t move again. Even when Kotaru stood two meters in front of her, she maintained her position. Dissatisfied, Kotaru released the genjutsu, and he noticed the woman blink a few times as if getting something out of her eyes, or as if coming out of a trance. "Something wrong?”

“No.”

It wasn’t every day that Kotaru found someone more taciturn than he was. But that was much easier to deal with than feigned cheer. With a slight sigh, he picked up the kunai from the ground and twirled it between his fingers a few times. He would, of course, keep trying until he got the desired effect. But it was somewhat difficult to determine if the genjutsu was working the way he wanted or not. This woman was galaxies away from Aruki when it came to being expressive. “This time I want you to go on the offensive when I tell you. Simple taijutsu only, no weapons.” As he spoke, he took several steps back until he was roughly fifteen meters away from her. Maybe if he started from farther away it would be easier to tell when the genjutsu took effect over her mind.

Again, he formed the same seals. Instead of molding the same amount of chakra, he gathered a bit more within him. The chakra flowed within him differently as well. If it moved like a smooth wave before, this time its movements were more like tiny vibrations. It was the only way Kotaru would have been able to describe how the chakra within him felt.“Come on!” he yelled, and he took a few trotting steps forward. The woman, at first, mirrored his movements and approached him, looking as though she was preparing to attack. However, when he was about eight meters away from her, her pace noticeably slowed. Kotaru continued forward, and the closer he got to her, the more she slowed up.

When they were close enough, she crouched low and placed her hand on the ground. Using the hand as a balance, she twisted her body into a one handed handstand, and she aimed a fierce kick to the underside of Kotaru’s chin. He dodged it but he wasn’t quite fast enough her skills with taijutsu seemed to match his own, but her speed was far superior. Her attack angered him, not because it connected, but because it meant that his genjutsu had been unsuccessful.

The genin tried again and again to successfully complete the genjutsu, but to no avail. He asked her repeatedly, with mounting frustration, if she had released his technique without him noticing, but she denied it every time. After a few hours of training, Kotaru dismissed her, seething, but undeterred.



A few weeks later, he called upon the stoic woman again, and she immediately met him in the training grounds once again. The woman seemed well rested and patiently waited for directions. Kotaru, on the other hand, appeared haggard. His hair was messier than normal, his clothes disheveled, and his eyes carried dark, heavy bags beneath them. He had been tirelessly planning and reading, trying to figure out where he was going wrong. The various sequence of hand seals hadn’t worked, seemingly unable to mold chakra in the way the boy wanted.

His training wasn’t restricted to reading. In the weeks that passed, the genin had learned to mold his chakra without the use of seals, and could perform techniques without using seals at all. He had mastered genjutsu channeling and believed the technique was essential to figuring out how to successfully complete his strongest technique yet.

He stood fifteen meters away from her and gave the woman the same directions as before: taijutsu only, no weapons. The woman, whose name he couldn’t remember, obliged, and their training began. But this time, instead of wasting time choosing seals, Kotaru closed his eyes and focused his chakra. The sensation of his chakra molding was exhilarating, and his confidence mounted as he removed a kunai from his pouch and broke into a run. The woman stiffened and lowered herself into an offensive stance, and the two shinobi exchanged blow after blow.

After the kunoichi landed a powerful punch that sent Kotaru stumbling backwards, he inflated his melashiin and attacked her with the tendrils. She batted them away with punches and kicks, her eyes steady and movements confident.

At that moment, Kotaru grinned and launched his kunai at her feet. The genjutsu activated, and as he continued to attack he watched her closely. Suddenly instead of engaging, the woman went on the defensive. She increased the distance between them, and each time Kotaru tried to close it, she leapt back, using her superior speed to keep Kotaru at bay.

The young genin let out a cruel laugh, satisfied that his genjutsu had succeeded. He toyed with her, relishing in the fact that she refused to get close to him, not from her own free will, but because he had made it so. Even as he released the genjutsu he continued to cackle darkly, and only ceased when he told her their session was over.

1,407 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

Know Your Place
B-Ranked Illusion Genjutsu
After channeling his chakra, Kotaru moves his melashiin in an undulating motion and then the tips of the tendrils will curl inward. When the target sees this motion, this illusion of force genjutsu will activate. For the duration of one post, the target will begin to feel as though a force is pushing down upon their shoulders to force them onto their hands and knees. During this period, if the target realizes they are under genjutsu, they can move their hands to kai out. Targets can also physically break the illusion if their strength is 20 or greater. After this one post period, a target with less than 20 strength will be unable to lift their bodies from this position for four posts.

Kotaru did his best to keep his growth a secret. Since his return from his missions with Tatsuo and Mitsuo, he had gotten considerably closer to the two chuunin. But the boy was inherently a loner and only trusted them so far, so he spent his free time alone in the library reading about genjutsu theory and techniques. It was a fascinating discipline and he wished he had more test subjects readily available to test out his new techniques. He hesitated to ask his new friends, as he had grown fond of them and was hesitant to test out his unpleasant ideas on them.

Fortunately, the young genin named Koichi didn’t mind helping him with genjutsu, and he had no such feelings of fondness towards him. The boy was convenient, and nothing more. He wasn’t sure why Koichi continued to train with him. Maybe it was because he wanted to train up his resistance to genjutsu. Maybe it was the generous sum of money Kotaru paid him at the end of their sessions. Whatever the reason Koichi stuck around, Kotaru was silently grateful for him.

On a bitterly cold December morning, the training grounds of Iwagakure were mostly empty. Only a few souls were brave enough to face the chill. Kotaru and Koichi had been there since dawn, shivering despite their thick hats and gloves. Their breath hung in icy clouds around them as they sparred, one throwing mounds of earth and the other using long tendrils to dance around them.

Once warmed up, the two boys stretched their muscles in silence. “Koichi,” Kotaru started, his words muffled behind his thick scarf. “I need to train genjutsu.” It was a courtesy. He only told Koichi ahead of time so the other genin would be expecting genjutsu; his awareness would help Kotaru more easily evaluate whether or not his genjutsu was working. ‘Though, I’ll be able to tell pretty quickly if this technique works or not.’

Koichi nodded and prepared himself while Kotaru channeled his chakra. He had only recently learned to use more advanced techniques and it was rather taxing. Genjutsu was strenuous in its own right, and the more advanced techniques were exhausting to most shinobi, especially to a genin. The Akari had more stamina than the average genin, but it still wasn’t enough. In this training session he had to be especially careful not to overwork himself or he could faint, or worse.

Once he was satisfied with the amount of chakra he molded, he stretched his melashiin behind him, curling them inwards towards Koichi. He effect was almost immediate; the younger genin gasped as his body tensed, and his head lowered as his upper body bent painfully towards the ground. Sweat poured down his forehead and chest as he groaned and strained against the force of the genjutsu.

Though Kotaru knew that there was no way the boy was physically strong enough to resist the effects of the genjutsu, he still had to concentrate. The technique was advanced and demanded a certain level of concentration, and any break in focus would give the opponent an opportunity to break out of the genjutsu. He couldn’t allow that, so Kotaru focused as if he were fighting a jounin with the ability to break out of his technique.

Koichi strained for several seconds until finally his body had enough. He fell onto all fours, cursing and yelling for Kotaru to end the technique. Kotaru allowed the technique to go a little while longer, silently relishing in his partner’s pain, and then he finally released the technique. The younger genin collapsed onto his belly as his breaths came out in rattling wheezes. The Akari approached and knelt beside him, poking at his side. “Fuck off,” came Koichi’s strained reply, and the Akari only smiled in response.



Though he was confident the genjutsu worked, Kotaru felt that he needed to test it against someone stronger. Koichi was in no way strong enough to even dream of breaking the genjutsu by neither using kai or his physical strength. That fact put Kotaru in the annoying position of seeking out a stronger partner to test the jutsu. He called upon the kunoichi he had trained with before - Aiko, was it? Or was it Sango? - and she quickly answered the call.

Later that same day he met with the woman and their training quickly began. They sparred like they had before, and after they had warmed up Kotaru released his melashiin. The genin channeled his chakra to begin the jutsu, and when his melashiin undulaed behind him it began. The woman grimaced as the genjutsu took effect, and her entire body tensed as she tried to fight the sensation of being forced to the ground on her knees.

Kotaru concentrated, and the girl let out a mighty shout as she focused all of her strength into fighting the force. She struggled and struggled, but the more time went on, the more it became evident that she didn’t have the strength to break out of the genjutsu. She cursed as her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground on all fours, and Kotaru let out a thrilled cackle as her head dipped painfully down.

He let the genjutsu keep going, just to see if she could somehow manage to gather the strength needed to break it. The force on her body was painful and she began to sweat profusely, but there was clearly nothing she could to against the technique.

Eventually, Kotaru released the genjutsu, and the girl released a gasp and collapsed onto her belly. He was pleased that someone of her rank wasn’t able to break the genjutsu. Sure, it merely meant she didn’t have the strength to break the genjutsu of force phsyically; he wasn’t sure if he had the skill to kai out or not, but he figured he ought to give her the chance to try.

Silently, he waited for her to catch her breath and stand up. The kunoichi shot him a look of mounting hatred, but the genin merely grinned in response. “Ready for another go?”

“You’re enjoying this.”

“How could you tell?”

“You are cruel, you know that?”

Kotaru shrugged. That was something he had more or less heard before. “You knew I needed you to train genjutsu, so I used the genjutsu. What’s cruel about that?”

The kunoichi growled and charged at him. Unprepared for her sudden burst of speed, Kotaru jumped backwards, but he didn’t move quickly enough. The kunoichi punched him square in the jaw, and the force of the blow rocked his entire skull. He was knocked backward and slightly off his feet, but he quickly slammed one of the tendrils of his melashiin onto the ground and poised the other two in the the air to keep his balance.

The Akari smirked - though the gesture was rather painful - and channeled his chakra once more. The kunoichi, unwilling to give him enough time to finish, unleashed a flurry of punchces and kicks that disrupted the boy’s channeling. He lost his focus, and the faint glow from channeling his genjutsu faded.

The girl’s furious punches and kicks landed almost every time, though Kotaru wasn’t making much of an effort to block them. The girl aimed one final punch to his stomach, but he blocked it by wrapping one of his tendrils around her hand and up her arm. When she tried to wrench herself free, he smiled at her and patted her cheek with a free hand. Surprisingly, she blushed and stopped struggling.

“Are you done beating me up for training genjutsu with you? Or do you need more time?” When she said nothing, he released her hand and she snatched away. She cursed at him again, but the Akari merely smiled.

1,286 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

Spaced Out
B-Ranked Status Genjutsu
After channeling his chakra, Kotaru will make physical contact with his target to trigger the genjutsu. Once the genjutsu is activated, the target’s mind will blank, and they will find it very difficult to form complete thoughts. The target will appear “out of it,” and will have delayed responses to stimulation such as commands, physical sensations, or changes in their visual field. This technique lasts 4 posts.

Kotaru could tell the girl was pissed. Part of him didn’t care, but he needed to keep her as a training partner. She was pleasant to work with, and before that moment she had been perfectly willing to train whatever he wanted. The kunoichi turned to leave, and his chest clenched. He really needed her to stay.

“Sango, wait a -”

She stopped and whirled around on him angrily. It was the most emotion he had seen from her since they began training together, and Kotaru wasn’t sure how to handle it. “It’s Aiko”

“Of course it is, I knew that.” He didn’t. “I just said that so you’d stay.”

She turned to face him, and though half of her face was still hidden by a bandana, he could tell fro her eyes that her features locked in a frown. For the first time he noticed that her eyes were a stunning shade of blue, and though her chestnut brown hair was pulled back in a tight bun, the few strands that had come free were thick and curly.

With a sigh he added, “Look. I like training with you. You’re strong and you listen well. And, uh,” the boy grimaced slightly as he formed the next few words, “and I shouldn’t have used that genjutsu on you like that. I’m not done training, so you should stay and help me.”

The kunoichi - Aiko - narrowed her eyes. After a long pause she responded, “That’s the closest to an apology as you’re ever going to get, isn’t it?” Kotaru gave a one shouldered shrug. “Why should I stay? The rumors are true; you like torturing people too much.”

The Akari bit his lip. He didn’t like the fact there were rumors going around about him. He would have to do something about that, probably by laying low. But for now, he needed to convince Aiko to stick around until he was finished training for the day.

He had a genjutsu in mind to train with her that he had been working on. Unlike his other techniques, this one didn’t involve his targets experiencing pain or discomfort. He had the basic idea for it down, but he needed to test it on another person.

“Let me make it up to you.” The girl’s eyebrow hitched as he channeled his chakra and his body became shrouded by a faint blue glow. Her eyes were suspicious when he held out both of his hands, palm up. When he saw her hesitation, he coaxed, “Go on, take my hands,”

“You really expect me to trust you right now, Akari Kotaru?”

“No but I expect you to do what I’m paying you to do. Now take my hands.” When it seemed like she would oblige, he added “And pull your mask down. I need to see your face for this.”

Aiko sighed. There was hesitation in her motions as she lifted her hands to her face and put her fingers under the hem of the fabric. Kotaru wondered why she wore the mask in the first place and almost started to tease her about it. ‘What, do you have an ugly scar you want to hide?’ he almost chimed, but he stopped mid-thought when she pulled the fabric below her chin.

She was…beautiful. Her features were soft and delicate, a huge contrast with the tough and direct manner with which she usually spoke. She had a small nose and full lips, and without the mask he could see the full extent of the flush in her cheeks. He had always assumed she was much older than him due to her height and demeanor, but the gentleness of her features made her suddenly appear much younger.

Kotaru cleared his throat to dispel the surprise at her beauty and attempted to redirect. “You look a lot younger than I initially thought.”

“I’m fifteen,” she replied, and her gaze suddenly became sharp and judgmental. “Did you not read my file before you hired me?”

“Nope, not really.” He wiggled his fingers. “Now take my hands.”

Aiko sighed and gently placed her hands within his. Her fingers were cold, and he interlaced hers with his own. The touch was the initiator for the genjutsu, and he watched her face for evidence that it was taking effect.

“You’re irritated with me, aren’t you?”

“‘Irritated’ isn’t a strong enough word, but yes.”

The genin squeezed her hands and her eyebrow jutted upwards quizzically. He waited for any evidence that the jutsu was taking effect, but Aiko continue to look at him with the same piercing gaze. With a sigh, the young Akari let go of her hands and released the genjutsu. He ignored her question regarding the point of the technique and channeled his chakra again. Perhaps, he thought, he had been too distracted to properly mold his chakra in the way he needed for the jutsu to work. Aiko looked at him expectantly and he did his best to avoid her gaze.

He tried again, this time focusing less on her face and more on the technique. He channeled his chakra, molding it in the way he was accustomed whenever he had to perform a more advanced genjutsu technique. But even though he was more focused on what he was doing this time around, it seemed like the jutsu wasn’t working.

Kotaru released her hands in frustration, a bit more forcefully than necessary, and turned on his heel to pace. It was much easier to inflict pain, he thought, than to do the opposite. Genjutsu that aimed to hurt or cause discomfort was more the genin’s specialty, and to switch it up to cause his target to experience a sudden blank in thought was almost foreign to him.

When he turned back around to face his training partner, she was still waiting patiently for him. The two stared at each other, willing the other to speak first but neither moved to break the silence. Finally, Kotaru waved her off and told her he would call her again in a few days when he was ready.

It took Kotaru a little under a week to call Aiko again. She greeted him with her usual curt bow, her face yet again hidden behind the grey bandana. The genin silently gestured for her to remove it from her face and to take his hands. Without a word, he began training again. Occasionally he would look into her eyes for the telling sign that her mind blanked. Over and over he failed and each time Aiko said nothing. After nearly an hour of failure his chakra was depleted, and he dismissed her, silently, and they parted ways.

They met for a third time two days later. This time, instead of letting Aiko stare at him in silence, Kotaru requested that she talk to him.

“About what?”

A shrug. “Anything you want.”

At first she merely listed types of foods. “Banana. Orange. Apple. Grape….”

“Really? You’re listing food?”

“You said anything I want. Tomato. Corn….”

Kotaru rolled his eyes, supposing that listing foods would work for what he needed. He channeled his chakra and squeezed her hand. For a moment she stumbled in her speech, and Kotaru glanced at her hopefully. But she continued listing food, so he cancelled his chakra and molded it again.

This time, her words began to trail off. “Eggs. Mi…orange…chee….se….” The genin couldn’t help but smile when her eyes took on a distant gaze and she stopped speaking completely.

“Aiko.”

Though she was looking directly at him, she didn’t respond. It was almost as if she were looking past him.

“Sango.”

Initially, she said nothing, but after a pregnant pause she asked, “Sango…who?”

The genin chuckled and squeezed her hands once more before cancelling the genjutsu.

1,264 words

[Kao]

“Are you hungry?”

The sun was setting below the horizon, and the young Akari genin was seated with his eyes closed beneath a stone archway in one of Iwagakure’s training grounds. A thick scarf was wrapped snugly around his neck, hiding most of his face, and his gloved hands were resting folded in his lap. Kotaru had spent much of the day with Aiko training his genjutsu and taijutsu and he was, to say the least, tired. The art was draining, especially coupled with physical manuvers, and he had decided to sit beneath the archway to meditate and recover a bit of his chakra. Meditation was something that the boy had only recently undertaken since obtaining his newfound strength. Finding a way to reliably recover chakra was a necessity as he got stronger.

“A bit,” he responded without opening his eyes. He could feel the older girl’s stormy dark blue eyes cutting into him, so he reluctantly opened his own. As expected she was towering above him, staring at him in anticipation. With a sigh, Kotaru stood up and stretched the tense muscles in his legs and back. “What, are you eating with me?”

“Might as well. Come on, then.”

The two walked in comfortable silence. Weeks had passed since they first began training together, and there was an unspoken agreement between them that they didn’t need to say much to one another. He hesitated to admit it - even to himself - but Kotaru had grown to enjoy her company. Not only that, but he looked foward to it. They met a few times a week, and every day prior to their meet up, he was always in an inexplicably good mood. They always trained intensely, neither showing restraint, and her refusal to ever pull her punches made him appreciate her company even more.

The thin layer of ice and snow crunched beneath their feet as they made their way to a busy part of the village. The villagers were darting this way and that, completing their errands quickly in order to get out of the bitter cold. The chill was unpleasant, but the young shinobi were used to training in such weather. Though it was still a bit uncomfortable, their bodies had been honed to withstand the winter air.

Soon, Kotaru realized where she was leading him. They approached a small restaurant that was popular among the young shinobi of the village. It was busy; the air buzzed excitedly with the conversations of young genin and chuunin. A huge, unconventional fireplace situated above ground level in the back wall of the restaurant filled the space with comfortable warmth. 
Beside him, Aiko cursed under her breath and Kotaru turned to see what elicited such a reaction from her. Two girls about Aiko’s age approached them, chuunin by the looks of them, and they sneered. “Well, well. I guess they’re allowing in the riff raff.” The girl who spoke was a tall blonde with pock-marked skin and a strong jaw. Kotaru immediately dismissed her presence and glanced around the room for somewhere to sit.

Aiko gave a tiny, forceful sigh. “Go away, Mei.”

“Who’s the shrimp? Wait, don’t tell me. Your boyfriend, right? Cute. He almost comes up to your waist.”

Kotaru rolled his eyes. Short jokes. How unoriginal. “Let’s find a table.”

The second girl, a stocky brunette who looked and smelled as though she had skipped bathing for a few days, blocked his path. “Sorry, but selfish bitches and their boyfriends aren’t allowed here.”

Ignoring the insult against Aiko, Kotaru took a slow, deep breath and quickly surveyed the room. There were twenty, no, twenty-four people in the restaurant not including staff. Much too crowded. Any reaction to the girls would be met with scrunity and far too much attention than the genin felt was necessary. Kotaru glanced at his training partner, and though her face was hidden behind her mask, her cheeks were practically glowing red with anger and it was clear to him that she had her teeth clenched. The Akari didn’t want any trouble or to cause any commotion, so he replied, “Look, I don’t know what your problem is with her, but it has nothing to do with me. Settle this yourselves.”

He found a small table for two near the bar and sat with his back towards the three girls. He could hear them speaking, and it was quickly escalating into an argument. From the sound of it, Aiko was doing her best to walk away, but the other two girls weren’t having it. When their heated words turned into full blown shouting with the two strangers threatening to handle Aiko outside, the restaurant workers finally stepped in and forcefully escorted the other two girls out.

Aiko stomped over to the table and noisily plopped into the seat across from the Akari. When he bothered to looked up he found that her mask was pulled down and every feature of her face was contorted by fury. He watched her silently seethe for a few seconds before quipping, “Having fun?”

“Shut the fuck up, Akari Kotaru.”

“Whoa there. That’s some foul langauge. You sh-”

“You left me with them!”

The genin’s brow perked with confusion. Why was she angry with him? “Whatever that was had nothing to do with me. You’re perfectly capable of fighting your own battles.”

“Why are you such a stupid little shit? As much as I help you, you can help me too!” Her voice was becoming more and more shrill with every syllable. It wasn’t like her to lose her composure. He didn't like it.

“Lower your voice.”

“Fuck you!” The chuunin stood with such force that her chair flew backward into the wall. The noise caused a lull in coversation as several eyes turned toward them. She moved to leave, but as she walked past him, the boy’s arm shot out and grabbed onto her wrist. She tried to wrench away, but no matter how much she struggled he refused to let go.

The thought to interfere in the confrontation hadn’t even crossed his mind. Even as the three kunoichi’s voices had raised and the situation nearly escalated to a fight, he hadn’t even looked back toward them. As a child who couldn’t even rely on his parents, Kotaru had learned to take care of himself, and only himself. To fight his own battles. To stay out of the affairs of others, especially when it didn’t concern him in the slightest. But seeing Aiko’s hurt and angry reaction to leaving her to her own devices made the boy pause and contemplate what just happened.

Perhaps he should have stepped in and supported her. They were, after all, training partners who had for weeks watched the other suffer and bleed. A new thought crossed his mind that deepened his frown - no one else had the right to make her feel pain in any way. Only him, and only when they were training.

The Akari felt a tinge of regret, but in his usual fashion, he wasn’t sure how to express it. Explicitly apologizing was not in his nature, so he did the next best thing. He gestured towards the chair opposite him and calmly said, “Sit down so we can eat.”

---

The two ate without speaking, but unlike their walk from the training grounds to the restaurant, it was tense between them. Aiko ate slowly and without looking at him, her face still flushed with anger but not once did he look away from her.

“Aiko.”

She ignored him, continuing to focus on only her food. He said her name again, but still she pretended he hadn’t spoken. ’Fine. Be that way.’ It was becoming annoying, her refusal to acknowledge him and her willingness to hold onto her anger. She was stubborn, he’d give her that.

But she was also hurt, and he was beginning to understand that. He should have rallied behind her, stayed by her side as her training partner. At the very least, he could have told the ugly kunoichi to get lost and calmly ushered her away from them. Instead, he had left her on her own. 
 ‘Guess not everyone is like that,' he reflected, thinking about his own tendency to fend for himself. Companionship was new to him. In fact, his new friend Enkouten Mitsuo basically had to tutor him in what it meant to be a friend to someone. He had learned that companions - friends - could ask one another for help. Maybe companions, friends, didn’t always need to ask. Maybe sometimes they were supposed to just do. If she was going to act that way, he might as well try something. Genjutsu. A harmless one that would put her in a more amicable state of mind. Sure, it was a manipulative thing to do. But he was willing to try anything it if it meant she would look at him.

Training!Show

Experience Tranquility

[url=viewtopic.php?&t=?p=4122452&t=8126510]

---

The young shinobi left the restaurant after Kotaru silently paid for both of their meals. At first, Aiko wanted to pay for her own. But with Kotaru’s genjutsu still affecting her she quickly relented. Once outside, the kunoichi stretched her arms high above her head, said her goodbyes, and started to head home. But after walking only a few feet, she found that Kotaru had fallen into step behind her.

“What are you doing?”

“Walking you home.”

“…Why?”

He shrugged and didn’t say anything, so the two walked together. Kotaru was grateful that they had fallen back into their routine of comfortable silence. The two walked for a few minutes. The first thing Kotaru noticed that she lived in almost the exact opposite direction of the Akari compound. It would take a while to get home unless he took to the rooftops.

The second thing he noticed was the almost inaudible sound of feet hitting the rooftops above them. He glanced at Aiko and noticed she had covered her face with her mask and her eyes had the familiar glint of intensity that he saw whenever they sparred. So she had noticed, too.

A low murmur, “I think your friends are following us.”

“Not my friends. And yes, ever since we left.”

“I figured they would. Don’t worry. I won’t leave you this time.”

The girl scoffed, but there was no maliciousness in it. She moved closer to him so their words wouldn’t be overheard. At first the boy seemed to recoil, but he quickly relaxed his shoulders and allowed the proximity. “And what will you do? You’re just a genin. They’re both chuunin.”

“I’m a very strong genin,” he retorted, resentment pouring into his voice, “who has been too busy to take the exams.”

“You’re still just an inexperienced kid.”

He stopped, and after taking a few steps ahead of him she stopped as well and looked back to meet his eyes. “How old are you?”

“Fifteen.”

“Not nearly old enough to call me a kid.” He slightly raised his voice despite himself. He hated her tone and the implication behind what she said. “Don’t look down on me because of my age, or because of anything else. I am not weak. Got it?” She rolled her eyes at him, but the young shinobi stood his ground, even making a show of of crossing his arms and flexing in the process. “Got it?”

After a pause, “Got it.” She turned on her heel and continued walking, but was surprised to see that Kotaru was still at her side.

“Thought you’d be running along home to avoid getting involved with me possibly having to fight them.”

It was Kotaru’s turn to roll his eyes. “I already told you. I’m not leaving you this time. We’re partners, right?” She hesitantly affirmed. He could tell she was skeptical, and for good reason, but he meant every word he said. “Right. So from now on, your fight is my fight. Agreed?”

She stared at him for a few moments, considering what he just said. He thought she would turn him down, but her lips turned upward in a slight smile.

“Agreed.”

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

Experience Tranquility
B-Ranked Status Genjutsu
This technique can be used on enemies or allies alike. After Kotaru channels his chakra, he will say “Relax” to activate the genjutsu. The target will experience a sensation of being relieved of stress, which makes them more amicable, less inclined to be hostile, and more open to positive suggestion. This technique lasts 6 posts.

The boy began channeling his chakra as his silent training partner continued to eat without looking at him. The motions she made reflected her emotions: the tension in her jaw as she stabbed her steak with her fork, the way she chewed each bite with more force than was necessary, the way she looked everywhere but up and at Kotaru. It was slightly annoying to the genin, and though he now wished he had helped shoo away those girls instead of leaving her to handle it herself, at that moment his focus was getting her to stop being so irascible.

As he channeled his chakra his body began to glow with a faint blue light. He hated that molding his chakra created such a visible and obvious reaction, but there was nothing he could do about it yet. When Aiko began to lift her head, he thought she was abou to finally look at him. That wasn’t the case. She turned her head - deliberately, he was sure - to the side to watch a group of boys laugh obnoxiously at some joke. [ ‘Fine, be angry,’ the genin thought. ‘But you won’t be that way for long.’

The boy had long had a jutsu in mind for situations like this. Sometimes friends and foes alike needed to be calmed down forcefully if certain things needed to be done. Once he was done channeling his chakra - or felt that he was done, at least - he spoke up. “Aiko. You need to relax.”

Relax. That was the trigger he had chosen. It was simple enough, and in that situation it was natural enough that she wouldn’t notice it as a trigger for a genjutsu. He watched for a response. Relaxed shoulders. The color in her cheeks returnin to normal. A willingness to look at him. He watched her ever move, every minute motion in her eyes, her lips, her hands. But nothing changed. Her body was still tense and her eyes were focused elsewhere. She didn’t even respond to what he had said. He knew she had heard him, but there was no indication of it in her body language. She was stubborn, he’d give her that.

But she was also hurt, and he was beginning to understand that. He should have rallied behind her, stayed by her side as her training partner. At the very least, he could have told the ugly kunoichi to get lost and calmly ushered her away from them. Instead, he had left her on her own. 
 ‘Guess not everyone is like that,' he reflected, thinking about his own tendency to fend for himself. Companionship was new to him. In fact, his new friend Enkouten Mitsuo basically had to tutor him in what it meant to be a friend to someone. He had learned that companions - friends - could ask one another for help. Maybe companions, friends, didn’t always need to ask. Maybe sometimes they were supposed to just do.

He cancelled his own chakra, a little disappointed that his little scheme hadn’t worked. Aiko was still angry with the girls, with him. Kotaru almost wondered why he cared so much. After all, she was just his training partner. At least, that was what he told himself. He still needed her help. If she was angry with him, he would lose her, and she was too useful to be lost over something so petty.

Kotaru wanted to try the genjutsu again. Though he was still a bit tired from their training session earlier in the day, he was willing to expend more chakra if it meant he would learn a new useful technique. Of course, getting Aiko to calm down was a pretty nice bonus.

Deciding he need a moment to focus, he got up from the table and stepped outside. The rush of cold air cleared his head. Only the thought of the freezing air practically stabbing his face filled his mind, and for a moment he forgot about the stress of successfully completing the development a genjutsu practically on the spot.

A normal person would just talk to her. A normal person would apologize for leaving her on her own. But Kotaru was far from a normal person. He was a shinobi with a strange and lonely upbringing, and essentially forcing other people to bend to his will was the only way he knew how to handle this situation. The Akari didn’t think it was neither strange nor manipulative. It was only a matter of getting something he wanted done.

After clearing his head, Kotaru headed back inside. It was evident that Aiko was still mad at him. In fact, as soon as he settled into his seat, her shoulders tensed even more and her frown deepened. Kotaru, growing a bit frustrated, molded his chakra again. He hoped she wouldn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, but her eyes flickered in his direction as the blue chakra began to eminate from him.

“What are you doing?”

As soon as she spoke, he stopped, and the faint glow disappeared. “What do you mean?”

“I saw that. I think I’ve trained with you enough to recognize when you’re up to some genjutsu related nonsense.”

The boy took a sip of his water and shrugged. “No idea what you’re talking about. Just finish your food.”

The girl scoffed and eyed the rest of her meal. She was nearly done, but the food had gone cold. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

With her gaze on her food and not in his direction, he channeled his chakra again. “Up for dessert?”

“I said I lost my appetite!”

Kotaru certainly wasn’t used to Aiko yelling at him. He was barely used to her talking. It was unpleasant. He much preferred her quiet, comfortably quiet, at his side training or resting after a spar. He didn’t like this emotional, enraged version of her. Once he finished channeling his chakra he said, “You can’t let those girls get to you. Just eat and relax, alright?”

With the trigger, the genjutsu activated, and this time he saw a difference. The kunoichi closed her eyes inhaled deeply, her shoulders and chest rising. When she exhaled she did it slowly, and at the end of her breath she opened her eyes. She opened her eyes and looked into his. Her face gradually lost the sanguine flush of anger and returned to normal, and her shoulders relaxed. As the seconds ticked by, it was obvious to him that the genjutsu was successful and was taking affect on the girl.

At first, Kotaru was just happy that it worked. He had tried the genjutsu a few times over the weeks with various unsuspecting people, but only in that moment did it truly work. But as the two young shinobi continued to look at each other, a slight smile crept into Kotaru’s features. Sure, he was pleased that his genjutsu had worked. But he also found himself happy that, after nearly an hour of Aiko ignoring him and snapping at him, she was finally looking at him calmly, without any sign of resentment.

“It worked,” he breathed, still smiling at her. Her eyebrow perked, and the girl’s head tilted with curiosity. “I just used a genjutsu on you. To uh…calm you down.”

“What, when?”

The Akari rolled his eyes. It was a playful gesture. “Didn’t I just say? I did it just now.”

She hummed and pushed the last bit of steak into her mouth. “Thank you.”

Kotaru paused for a long time. Just when it seemed like he wouldn’t respond, he breathed, “No problem.”

1251/1240 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

Double Jump
D-Ranked Taijutsu Manuver
Type: Eroshiin
With his eroshiin extended, Kotaru jumps up and then flaps his eroshiin. The movement allows him to double jump up to X meters, where X equals 1/2 of his strength.

Kotaru had been staying in Tatsuo’s house for nearly two days, but he was feeling antsy. He had been holed up in his room after his cousin ditched him for one reason or another, trying his best to avoid his friend’s family. They seemed like nice people, but nice people - especially Akari - made him nervous. So early one morning right before the sun rose, he slipped out of the house and headed to the training grounds he frequented.

He still wasn’t used to the eroshiin, so when he made it manifest it felt almost alien to him. As he paced the dark grounds he flapped them a bit, gently at first then with a bit more force, watching as loose rocks started to roll away from him because of the wind he created. Though they were new and felt strange, he liked them already and he could already imagine the possibilities.

The boy wondered how much they would affect his taijutsu manuevers. Perhaps they would allow him to gain height if he jumped up and flapped them hard enough. Kotaru unfurled his wings to their full span and stretched them. Then, he crouched low for a moment and then jumped up almost as high as he could. When he neared the apex of his jump he flapped his wings, hoping they would lift him up even higher. But he didn’t time the movement right and he clumsily danced in midair before gravity pulled him back to the ground.

Humming, he tried again, this time trying to time the flap of his eroshiin so that he would gain height as he intended. The second time he timed it better and he gained about a foot or so before falling back to the ground. He had flapped his wings, sure, but not nearly strong enough. Kotaru kept this up, hopping around his corner of the training grounds.

Several times he succeeded in his double jump, but he wanted to gain even more height. What was the use in having the eroshiin if he couldn’t use it to its full potential? After trying several times and only having lackluster results, he paused and sat down, taking a break and thinking about what he was possibly doing wrong. After pondering for a few minutes he tried again.

Each time he jumped and then used his eroshiin to gain height, he double jumped a little more than before. The feeling of the wind rushing past his ears as he leaped into the air was exhiliarating. Though it was far from flying, the feeling was liberating, and each time he gained even a small amout of height with his wings, he grinned.

Kotaru gave a happy sigh as he paused again. This time he wanted to jump as high as he could, so when he jumped upward and poised his wings to flap, he flapped them as hard as he could, so when he double jumped this time he jumped higher than he had before. He watched the ground as he jumped, trying to gauge just how far in the air he was. 5 meters? 10? It was hard to tell, but he landed with a grunt, and a satisfied feeling.

532 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

Corkscrew
C-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
Pre-Requisite: Eroshiin
With this manuever, Kotaru jumps into the air and uses his eroshiin to rapidly spin upward at a speed equal to his strength and gain height of X meters, where X is equal to 1/2 his strength.

Kotaru had been testing out his eroshiin all morning. The sun was rising higher, splashing the sky with tinges of pink and orange. It was quite beautiful, but the genin had never been the type to appreciate nature, especially when he was busy training. He was experimenting with the amount of height he could gain if he jumped up with his eroshiin, and so far he estimated that with his current skills, the most he could add was an additional six or so meters at the top of his jump. Respectable, perhaps even impressive, but it wasn’t enough.

The genin sighed as he took a break and a swig of water from his bottle. He needed to prepare for his chuunin exams but he had been putting it off. Between missions and trainings, he hadn’t had the time. He wasn’t too worried about them; after all, he was a beast of a genin that was stronger than most average chuunin. But he was still thought that the council would likely handle his strength by pitting him against a stronger than average chuunin.

Though he was somewhat apprehensive about how the exams would go, he needed to focus on his training, so he stood and shook the thoughts away and unfurled his eroshiin once again. He sparred with an imaginary partner, ducking and dodging and occasionally using his eroshiin to jump upward and get the upper hand getting above his “target.” He did this for a while, and at one moment he had jumped into the air, double jumped with his eroshiin, and was preparing to launch a kunai towards his imaginary target when he heard a voice.

“Wow, fancy moves.”

He stopped, fanning his eroshiin open so that he slowly fell back to the ground. A little ways to his left sat his friend and trainng partner Aiko. She sat cross-legged atop a rock, smiling at him and eyeing his shiin. Kotaru returned the smile. He hadn’t seen her in weeks, not since he first had to patch things up with Tatsuo. After that he had been busy nonstop with mission after mission.

“Wanna help me test them out?”

The girl nodded and jumped from her perch and approached them. He felt the sudden urge to grab her and hug her, but in the next moment he blinked, feeling strange about it. He cleared his throat and prepared for her to attack without giving much warning. She didn’t disappoint. As soon as she got within a few meters of Kotaru she rushed him and nearly landed a punch to his chest. But the genin was now faster than what she was used to. He leaped backward to avoid the punch then landed a chop to her to the wrist of her extended fist.

Aiko hissed but otherwise showed little reaction. They continued to exchange blows and near-blow, hits and near-hits, dancing around the training grounds. Whenever Aiko landed a good punch, Kotaru would smile and hit her right back. Occasionally he’d use his eroshiin to gain height over her and them smash down with a kick or a punch. She almost always dodged it - almost. Occasionally he would hit her, but rarely head on.

"You’ve been training,” Aiko quipped as she leaped forward and aimed a spinning kick toward his chest. Kotaru, anticipating the move, jumped up and spun in the air once, twice, his eroshiin guiding the motion.

“Like a dancer,” she giggled, then she flipped backward to wait for Kotaru to float back to the ground.

Kotaru performed the maneuver on the fly, liking how it felt as he twisted and turned in the air like a corkscrew. As they continued to fight he performed the move a few more times, jumping higher and faster each time. Aiko realized he was trying to improve the move, so the kunoichi came at him in ways that would make it easier for him to do so without having to worry about a sudden counter attack. The two had trained together so much that they could now tell when they were practicing a particular taijutsu maneuver. Few words were needed between them, and Kotaru appreciated her more and more each time they sparred.

The two continued their dangerous dance, rarely actually hitting each other as they had gotten pretty good at dodging attacks. Kotaru could read her movements well; she didn’t often change up the style of her attacks, just the timing. But just as Kotaru was becoming comfortable and felt like he had gotten the hang of the new maneuver, she switched things up.

She came at him faster, threw her punches harder, and he found that it was harder to dodge them. Aiko aimed a punch to his cheek and grazed him, thought the force of the contact made it obvious that if she had been successful it would have left his head spinning for a while.

“Whoa, you-”

Distracted, Kotaru let her hand a powerful spinning kick to his chest. The attack knocked the wind out of him a bit and he stumbled backward, but he quickly recovered. When she aimed a similar kick to him he jumped up into the air again, spinning rapidly as he did so. He gained quite a bit of height, much more than he had before, and at the apex of the jump he flapped his wings once so he remained in the air for a second longer before he came crashing back to the ground.

Aiko huffed, though she smiled at him. “You’re getting good, Kotaru.”

He smiled back at her, pleased at the compliment. “Thanks for noticing.”

927 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

Hover
C-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
Pre-Requisite: Eroshiin
Kotaru can use this techinique to remain in the air after jumping upward using another maneuver or jumping down from a high position. He must continuously flap the shiin at a steady pace to maintain his position in the air. While using Hover, due to it requiring his focus he is unable to use any other taijutsu maneuvers and is unable to gain height.

“You like those a lot, huh?”

The two shinobi took a break from their training to munch on the bento boxes that Aiko had brought with her. She sat near the edge of a cliff that overlooked the grounds, watching as a few people in the distance, appearing as little more than dots, darted here and there as they trained. Kotaru looked behind him at his eroshiin, folded against him and partially resting on the ground.

“Yeah, they’re alright.” The wings fluttered, kicking up a bit of dust on the pair, but neither seemed to mind.

“Can you fly?”

“Haven’t tried,” the genin responded just before he stuffed the last bit of his rice into his mouth. Aiko laughed at that, and he raised his brow quizzically at her. He still wasn’t quite used to her being anything but completely serious. But he liked her smile.

“You should try. What’s the point of having wings if you can’t even fly?” She gestured toward the cliff as if daring him to jump, but the Akari merely scoffed and set his empty bento box to the side. “What, are you scared?”

“I’m not gonna jump to my death just to prove a point.”

“It’s not that high. Besides, there’s a landing a few meters below us that would break your fall.”

Clearly she wasn’t going to let up, so Kotaru sighed and stood to his feet. She watched him with bright eyes, anticipating his first attempt at flight. He again ensured her that he absolutely could not fly yet; he had only had the eroshiin for a few days. “Well if you can’t fly, then float? That’s doable, right?.”

She was probably right, of course. Using his eroshiin to maintain his position in the air was probably doable. Probably, but not guaranteed. The last thing he wanted to do was step off the cliff and fail and injure himself. The fall probably wouldn’t kill him, but that was too much of a risk. So instead of leaping haphazardly off the cliff, he decided to try to first do it from where he stood.

Kotaru leaped into the air and used the eroshiin to double jump. It added several meters to his jump, and when he reached the the apex of the jump he flapped his wings again, hoping he would somehow maintain his position. But instead, his height raised a little bit and the shock from the unexpected result made him lose his balance and he began to fall back to the ground. He spread his wings and angled them so that he wouldn’t go crashing back down. When his feet his the earth, he heard a stifled laugh from Aiko. He shot her a look, but by that time she was straight faced.

The genin tried again, each time failing but each time learning something. It wasn’t just enough to flap his eroshiin, He had to angle them, control the strength of each beat of his wings, and hold his body in a way that he wouldn’t lose his positioning and balance if the wind blew too strongly the wrong way. He went on this way for half an hour, and though he learned a lot about how to position the wings, he hadn’t made any actual progress.

Aiko yawned loudly, and he did his best to ignore her and keep going. But she stood as if she was going to go, so he stopped.

“It’s nearly afternoon. You should take a break and come eat.”

“Just ate,” he replied as he tried again. This time when he beat his wings he he could tell he was on the right track, but he wasn’t ready to call it a day yet. “Go ahead without me.” He watched her leave, and when she had disappeared behind the rock formations he tried again, this time hoping he would get it right.

He didn’t. He spent all day trying to learn how to hover in the air, but it wasn’t working. By the time the sun was descending below the horizon, Kotaru was exhausted. His legs and eroshiin were sore, and even after he dismissed them there was an ache in his back that he wished he could will away. He sauntered home and managed to slip past Tatsuo’s family without them noticing, and collapsed on his bed and immediately went to sleep.


The next day the genin was still unbelievably sore. He visited a masseuse that employed iijutsu to tend to his aching legs, and once he was pain free he rushed back to the training grounds to try again. The training went slightly better than the day before. Slightly. On his third try he was able to remain in the air for a few seconds, but he didn’t coordinate his movements enough and he clumsily fell back to the ground.

He tried again, making sure to keep a steady beat with his wings and keep his body relaxed, but still in a strong position. He found that it worked if he thought about it and nothing else, but he didn’t like that he could only focus on hovering in the air and nothing else. By midday he was truly getting the hang of it, and though his body was once again becoming sore he pushed through it.

When he was satisfied that he was good enough with hovering, he leaned over the side of the cliff. It was a long way down, a couple dozen meters, at least, so if he screwed up he would only have a few seconds to position his eroshiin in such a way that he would fall slowly and safely back to the ground.

Thankful that Aiko wasn’t around to watch his potential failure, he steeled himself and took a few deep breaths. Then, he jumped from the top of the cliff and immediately began to beat his eroshiin. To his pleasure and relief, he managed to stay in place, hovering in the air, and he found that he could look around at his surroundings and still manage to maintain his position. Though he probably wouldn’t be able to do much while performing this maneuver, it was still useful to him.

1017 words

[Kao]

Basic Formation LacrishiinShow

~Basic Formation: Lacrishiin
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
Type: Lacrishiin
Channeling chakra to their shiin, they cause it to inflate, fully forming into its full glory. Taking the form of an almost opaque armor with an appearance of glass, the lacrishiin almost completely covers the user's body. As a pseudoarmor, the lacrishiin has no inherent strength, but has a stamina equal to the Akari's stamina+3, while causing the Akari to move at 3 less speed.

“Alright, Kotaru. You should know where the sacs for your lacrishiin and derghoshiin are located, right?”

The boy nodded without saying anything, keeping his eyes on Kakuto. It had been just one day since he fought in the arena, and if he was honest with himself he wasnt’ in the mood to jump right back into training. He was tired both mentally and physically from the ordeal, but Kakuto insisted he learn how to use the shiin he obtained as soon as possible. He knew it wouldn’t be difficult; after publically dissecting Shiro he knew exactly where the sacs would manifest.

“Let’s start with lacrishiin. That one may be the most difficult since unlike the others it’s a full body shiin. But something tells me you won’t have much trouble with it. You’re a natural, you know?”

That made the boy frown. Kotaru didn’t at all think he was a natural. He just worked really hard, almost obsessively so, just because he wanted to survive being part of the Akari clan. Despite his feelings about the compliment he didn’t object or response. Instead he focused his chakra to his throat. It didn’t take long for the chakra to have an effect. The skin of his throat bulged, and after a second or two it burst as blue fleshy extensions began to spread over his body.

It creeped over his shoulders and then slowly seeped down each arm. It moved like a thick liquid, dripping and curving over his clothes and skin. As it slowly moved towards his elbows, it also traveled down his chest and upper back. It settled thickly there, almost seeming as thought he progression of the bioweapon would stop there. But eventually it continued down his torso and back. The young Akari watched with interest as it continued down his arm, finally wrapping itself around his hands like gloves. He could tell it was slightly thinner around his hands, which was good in the sense that it wouldn’t interfere with him making hand seals.

The blue fleshy extensions kept traveling downward, curving around his slim hips and then down his legs. Kotaru lifted his feet, one after the other, as the shiin moved to cover even his shoes. With his entire body covered in the shiin, he held his arms in front of him to admire it. The shiin still appeared to squirm as it solidified and settled. He noticed that it looked quite different from Shiro’s lacrishiin.

The shiin was thick around his chest and shoulders, and he jutted out his arm as the shiin continued to form over his shoulders. The shiin sharpened into several curved spikes, and once the spikes stopped forming it was finally complete.

“First try….” Kakuto marveled under his breath. The young boy shrugged, not thinking it was such a big deal. “A bit slow though. You’ll have to work on the speed of the formation, but the fact that you manifested completely on your first try….”

[490 words]

---

Basic Formation DerghoshiinShow

~Basic Formation: Derghoshiin
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
Type: Derghoshiin
Channeling chakra to their shiin, they cause it to inflate, fully forming into its full glory. Taking the form as a pseudo-crown on the Akari, the derghoshiin has a strength stat equal to the Akari's, but is very fragile, having only half of their stamina.

“Well. Derghoshiin now.”

Kotaru didn’t need to be told twice. He knew where that sac was located as well; he had found Shiro’s rather quickly at the space on his forehead, between his eyes. Kotaru wasn’t the most excited about this shiin. He had seen it in action and found it a little underwhelming compared to something like his melashiin or the lacrishiin. Not only that, but along with the lacrishiin it was a rare shiin, one of the ones that the clan valued above all others except astrashiin. It made him feel somewhat disgusted to know that he was now part of the “elite,” as Kakuto had called it. The elitism coupled with the clan’s amorality and greed was everything he hated about the Akari. Kakuto wouldn’t even let him dwell on it. Instead he had to “perform his duty,” which somehow included helping Tatsuo in his goals.

Kotaru scoffed at that and tried to put everything that came with the derghoshiin out of his mind. He already practically hated his two new shiin, but he knew it it was in his best interest to learn how to wield them. So with a small sigh, Kotaru focused his chakra to his forehead.

Unlike manifesting the lacrishiin, Kotaru found he had to concentrate a bit more to get the sac to even respond to his chakra. As he attempted to get the damned thing to manifest, his mind kept wandering to how much he truly didn’t want the responsibilities that came along with the derghoshiin.

“Focus, Kotaru.”

His adoptive father’s words snapped him out of his thoughts, but at the same time it completely broke his concentration. He sighed, becoming agitated and grumbled, “I’m trying. Telling me to focus isn’t helping.” Kakuto shot him a deep, fatherly glare, but the boy only stared right back at him. Despite the combative look, Kotaru was the first to relent, and with a sigh he went back to trying to focus on the derghoshiin.

This time he tried to focus on getting it to manifest and nothing else, and after a few seconds of concentrating his forehead began to bulge uncomfortably. Finally the shiin burst forward, and like the lacrishiin it manifested first as fleshy protrusions that seemed to almost drip down his body. While the lacrishiin was blue, this one was a deep purple, though Kotaru couldn’t exactly see it. The first part of the derghoshiin to form was the long, beak-like protrusion. It curved in front of his face, though it was thin enough that he couldn’t quite see it. He reached up to touch it to make sure it was forming fully, but by that time it was almost done manifesting. The final part of the shiin to form was the band around his forehead, and it quickly settled and hardened and stopped growing.

Kakuto nodded in satisfaction. Kotaru sighed, a tough of dread in the expression as he wondered what was next.

[488 words]

---

Barrier In FlamesShow

C-Ranked Ninjutsu
After performing the needed hand seals, Kotaru will cause a barrier to erect around him. With him as the center, the barrier has a dome shape and has a diameter of 7 meters and is 7 meters tall at its highest point. It forms at speed of 10 and can withstand hits up to 10 strength. It lasts up to 4 posts.

In the days after his fight in the Arena, Kotaru felt a sense of urgency to train that was even more potent than usual. The boy had gotten where he was due to his almost insane training regimen. After all, it wasn’t every day that a thirteen year old ranked from genin to jounin in less than a year. When the boy received notice that his superiors had recommended him for the promotion, he thought it was unreal. When he compared himself to his friends he didn’t consider himself nearly strong enough, so it was in his best interest, he figured, to train nearly each and every day for hours on end so that he could justify his new rank.

When they had ventured into the catacombs, Kotaru had truly realized he wasn’t very strong. He couldn’t protect his friends and teammates from the giant creatures, and now that he was about to be promoted to jounin and there was more frightening goings on below the village, he knew that Team 18 would likely be tasked with exploring the underground caverns and tunnels even further.

With that in mind, Kotaru stood in the training grounds trying to create the correct set of seals to create something that the team could probably use: a barrier. The boy wasn’t exactly familiar with many ninjutsu, and he had only recently began to learn about ninpou. He had been in the training grounds for hours trying to create a satisfactory barrier. A few books from the library had described effective series of seals, but he found that the barriers he created weren’t up to par.

The special jounin formed his seals and focused his chakra. It was strange, he thought idly, to mold non elemental chakra for ninjutsu techniques, but he was slowly getting used to it. The area around him began to glow slightly as a wall of chakra surrounded him on all sides, rising towards the sky and curving inwards. When it was all said and done, he had erected a barrier around him. If he had to guess, he’d say it was about five meters in diameter.

It wasn’t good enough. He stepped forward and tapped the barrier of chakra. It seemed sturdy enough, he guessed, but it was awfully small. Kotaru sighed and curled his hand into a fist and punched the wall. It cracked immediately, even though he wasn’t using nearly his full strength. He watched as the cracks spread rapidly through the barrier and shattered it, the pieces falling to the ground and then disappearing.

This barrier was his sixth attempt and it still wasn’t right. He had the right idea, that was for certain, but he still wasn’t satisfied with his creations. He formed seals again in a slightly different order and tried again. The barrier formed without a hitch, but it still wasn’t big enough. It was bigger than before, sure, but it still wasn’t perfect. It still wasn’t a perfect dome shape. The boy was getting frustrated with himself, and in his aggravation he stomped to the edge of the barrier and kicked it.

Again, the barrier shattered, but a bit slower than before even though he was sure he had put a bit more of his strength into it. Perhaps it was stronger that time, he thought to himself as he paced up and down for a few minutes before deciding to try it again.

Forming the same set of seals as before, Kotaru molded a bit more chakra than before. The boy was very conscious about how much chakra he put into his techniques, but he figured that if he wanted to do this and do it right, he would need a bit more chakra for it. Just a smidgeon. created another barrier. This one was bigger than the rest, and he found that he was satisfied with the size at least. He stepped forward until he was at the edge of it and then, with a powerful punch, he destroyed it.

He was sure that he had nearly perfected it by that point. All he needed was to perform it a few more times just to make sure. It was a good day.
[696 words]

---

Small BarrierShow

D-Ranked Ninjutsu
Pre-requisite: Barrier jutsu
After performing the needed hand seals, Kotaru will gather katon chakra in his hands and then touch his barrier. This transfers the katon chakra to the barrier, and the katon spreads throughout it at a speed of 5 until the barrier is covered in flames. As long as the barrier is up, anyone who touches the barrier will have the katon burning passive applied to them.

He needed to keep his training going. He had done well by creating a new barrier technique, but he knew that if he had the strength to break it so easily - even without mustering his full strength to do so - it wouldn’t be the most effective defense out there. The creatures in the catacombs were strong, and he was sure that many of them would be able to break the barrier he had just learned to create with ease. He would need to add an extra layer of defense.

Thinking of an idea, Kotaru formed the set of seals to create his barrier. Once it was in place, he performed a few more seals and began to mold the ninjutsu related chakra he was most familiar with. Katon chakra swirled within him and was concentrated to both of his hands, and he held them out and touched the surface of his barrier.

The special jounin figured that a touch of katon would make the barrier more formidable. It wouldn’t be much, especially since it didn’t take a whole lot to break the barrier in the first place, but he gained solace knowing that adding a katon effect to the barrier would at least severely burn whoever or whatever broke it if they did so physically.

Kotaru began to transfer the katon chakra from his hands into the barrier, imbuing the dome with flames. It spread rather slowly from his hands, and the boy watched as it crept along the barrier’s surface and ignited it. It spread to the sides and above his head, first heating it up and then immediately igniting the surface. It affected both sides of the barrier, an effect he didn’t necessarily think of as he was making it. That was fine, he thought, for he could also use the barrier to keep an opponent inside and within reach.

The flames continued to spread over the barrier very slowly, so Kotaru put a little more chakra into his hands and transferred it to the barrier so that the flames would move a bit faster. He supposed the flames got a little stronger and moved a little faster, so at that point he dropped his hands. The fire continued to spread over the surface of the moderately sized barrier, and by the time it was covered in flames Kotaru found that the jutsu wasn’t nearly as fast as he wanted it to be. But he also didn’t want to have to continuously imbue the barrier with the katon, nor did he want to use more chakra than necessary. It was slow, that was certain, but it would get the job done.
[443 words]

---

FirewallShow

C-Ranked Ninjutsu
Pre-requisite: 15 Ninjutsu, 20 Control
After performing the needed hand seals, Kotaru creates a wall of flames within 15 meters of his position. Due to his superb chakra control, he can create a wall between 5 and 10 meters in length and height. The wall forms at a speed of 20 with a strength of 10. The wall of flames is a meter thick and it lasts 4 posts before fading.

Kotaru had been training for hours. He had been practicing with his barrier especially, but he also was training to becoming even more proficient with katon techniques. It was the only elemental style he knew how to use, and he felt that it would come in handy if he and the rest of Team 18 were assigned another mission in the Catacombs. The first time around, the fire techniques seemed to be only somewhat effective against the spiders and the rats, but it was enough that they were able to get the upper hand. They worked well as a team, but sometimes Kotaru felt that he was the odd man out. Both Tatsuo and Mitsuo were beasts wheni t came to physical fighting, but other than improving his speed, Kotaru had never put much focus into his strength. He knew deep down that he would never be as physically strong as those two - especially the formidable monster that was Tatsuo - so he would have to find his usefulness in other ways.

The young special jounin still felt as though he could provide support for his teammates in the way of controlling the area of combat. Mitsuo was particularly good at it and it made him want to develop his own techniques. He had been practicing various katon techniques in the weeks before the arena, but he hadn’t been able to perfect many of them before the fight.

Kotaru formed a few seals to start working on one of the techniques he had started to develop. It was simple enough in theory: a large wall of flames that could keep enemies at bay or keep them from escaping. After he molded his katon chakra he focused on an area several minutes away, and within moments a large wall of flames erupted from the ground. If he had to guess, Kotaru would estimate that the wall was approximately seven meters long and nearly that many meters high. It was a nice wall of flames, and as he walked around it to examine it he noticed it was plenty thick as well.

He cancelled the jutsu and the flames rose and vanished, and as soon as they were gone he performed the same hand seals again. This time he molded a bit less chakra and sought to form the wall a few meters to the left of the original location. The wall erupted from the ground once again, and Kotaru examined it. It was in the position he had intended, although it was slightly too far left. Since the Akari had purposefully molded less chakra, the wall was a bit smaller; he had knocked about a meter off the wall’s length and height.

Again, the boy dispelled the jutsu and performed the technique a few more times. Luckily he had decent chakra reserved, but he felt a small amount of strain as time went on. He had used up a lot of chakra in the few hours he had been training and hadn’t taken a break. With a sigh, Kotaru took a moment to think and rest. He had practiced the technique for a few weeks now and he felt that he had nearly mastered it. He could make it smaller at will, but he wanted to make sure he was also able to make it bigger. Kotaru formed the seals again, gathering quite a bit more chakra than he had the first few times of using the technique.

Kotaru created the wall again, and again, and again. He knew he was exhausting himself but he had to get the jutsu down perfectly. There would be no room for error if he were to use this in the Catacombs; the tunnels and caverns were often uneven - sometimes large, sometimes small - and the creatures were dangerous and feast. Being able to create a wall with the correct dimensions was essential, so even though performing the jutsu over and over again was slowly taking its toll, he kept at it. He formed walls that were 5 meters, 5 and a half meters, 6 meters, 8 meters. He played with the length and the height, imagining he was miles below the village and fighting against the strange creatures that inhabited the catacombs. Eventually he was satisfied with himself and he sat down panting in order to rest.
[721 words]

[Kao]

Night, Day

---

“Get up.”

Blood and sweat dripped down Kotaru’s forehead and into his eyes, making it difficult to see the man standing in front of him. His breaths came in heavy pants, and each inhale made his chest tighten painfully. Six days had passed since he had entered the Arena and battled Shiro in a match that was basically killing for sport. It had been six days since he slowly and cruelly cut his dead opponent open and devoured the organs that manifested his shiin. Each of those days he had been forced to spar until he could barely stand, and with his extensive stamina that meant he fought for hours at a time.

His partner was Akari Kakuto, his best friend’s father and the man that had taken in Kotaru as his own. When they first started training the boy thought he could easily take the man on, but he proved to be a formidable opponent. He knew Kotaru’s strengths, and since he had banned the boy from using genjutsu and most of his ninjutsu, his weaknesses were more evident than normal. Physically they were evenly matched, but unlike Kotaru, Kakuto knew how to fight effectively from a considerable distance.

“Get up and use your derghoshiin.”

They were training Kotaru’s use of his new shiin: the armor-like lacrishiin and the strange growth on the forehead that was the derghoshiin. The boy had no trouble with one shiin but he had refused to utilize the other.

“No thanks,” he groaned as he slowly stood to his feet. Quite frankly, the derghoshiin pissed him off. Whenever he manifested the thing it reminded him of the clan’s class system that cursed Akari who were born with melashiin - Akari like him who had what he saw as the most versatile shiin - and praised those who were born with something as fragile as the derghoshiin. “I’d rather you keep slicing me open than use that stupid thing.”

Blood pooled at his feet as it dripped from the deep slices in each palm, his fingers, and several cuts up and down his right arm. Even if he wanted to form hand seals it would have been near excruciating; he was pretty sure he could see bone.

“Stop being so stubborn, Kotaru! What was the point of consuming Shiro’s derghoshiin if you aren’t going to attempt to use it to its full potential?!”

“You tell me,” the boy responded, still catching his breath as he leveled a heavy glare towards his adoptive father. “Like I said before, I didn’t ask for this. I never wanted to go in the arena. I wanted to stay under the radar, and I was good at that until I got too strong and the stupid elders noticed me. Maybe I should have burned it in front of everyone’s eyes as a ‘fuck you’ to the clan. I think the arena would be in shambles if I had.”

Kakuto clenched his jaw and held his breath for a long moment before releasing it in a long sigh. His son Tatsuo hadn’t been exaggerating when he described Kotaru’s demeanor, and the more time the man spent with the boy the more of his ire toward the clan he revealed. He had come across more than a few disgruntled clan members in his day but few came close to the boy that stood before him. All had suffered the same miserable and violent fate. Kakuto wanted to prevent that and had hoped that by taking him into his household he could show him the compassion that was needed to quell the still blossoming hatred for those around him. But Kotaru had always kept him at a distance. It was unclear to the man how Tatsuo had gotten through to him.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t,” Kakuto responded once his frustration had somewhat ebbed. “Pretty sure they’d consider that a crime.”

“And the riot?” asked Kotaru, a few of the long tendrils of his melashiin waving tiredly behind him as he continued. “Was that not a crime? I don’t get how they pick and choose what’s acceptable or not…what counts as a crime…what counts as a strong shiin. Cause if you ask me, trying to attack me in the arena en masse should be a crime. This weak ass derghoshiin should be the lowest shiin. Why isn’t it? You don’t think that’s odd?”

“I don’t make the rules, Kotaru. Enough talking. Derghoshiin. Now.”

Kotaru stared back defiantly, and instead of doing what he was told he had two of his melashiin tendrils tap lightly against the ground. A small smirk twisted his lips when he saw that his actions were slowly but surely angering the man. The crimson pools at his feet were growing, and he knew eventually he would collapse from blood loss. That was fine by him. He would rather lose consciousness than use the derghoshiin.

With a final sigh, Kakuto clenched his fists and dispelled the technique that he had been using to keep Kotaru at bay. He stalked across the training ground toward Kotaru, his face beginning to flush red. Seeing this the boy tensed, fully expecting Kakuto to either hit him or unleash a volley of verbal punishment. But instead he kept walking, making a point to look Kotaru directly in the eyes as he walked by. “We’ll try again tomorrow.”

That surprised him every time. Kakuto didn’t yell much, and even when he was clearly angry and frustrated with the boy he never took it out on him. He conveyed his displeasure in a way that made Kotaru immediately feel tinges of guilt. Kakuto was very different from his actual father; that man only knew how to shoot him gazes of deep contempt and disgust, throw insults and sneers, and on rarer occasions throw fists and scream and moan that he was unfairly saddled with a ‘weak son.’

Whenever thoughts of his parents crossed his mind Kotaru’s gut clenched and twisted. His nose and eyes burned and his chest rumbled with a deep growl. He had distrusted and disliked his parents for as long as he could remember; he practically raised himself because more often than not those people couldn’t be bothered to stay in the same room with him for very long. There was absolutely no love between them, and the boy hadn’t known what parental love even looked like before he moved in with Tatsuo. It was still bizarre to see a family sit down for meals together, to see a father and son talk and joke and respect one another. He didn’t know how to accept Kakuto as a father figure, so he did what he did best and pushed the man away when he felt he was getting too close. He was still stubborn and combative whenever Kakuto pushed for progress.

And then there was Mizami.

Kotaru heard a small sound behind him, a woman clearing her throat. He turned to face Tatsuo’s mother, avoiding her gaze and instead looking at the first aid kit she held in her hands. Mizami was everything that Kotaru - and his mother - was not. She was patient and kind, compassionate and thoughtful, and she chose her words carefully before speaking. She motioned for him to sit down on the ground, and he obliged. “Hold out your hands,” she said, and the two remained quiet as she rubbed a pungent salve over his wounds. Once she began wrapping him in gauze and bandages she looked at him, her eyes piercing into his. The boy faltered.

“You should listen to him,” she began, ignoring the scoff Kotaru gave her. “It’s important for you to get used to using your derghoshiin, and to be skillful with it.”

“Why?” Unlike when he spoke to Kakuto, his tone sharp and defiant, his voice was quieter when he spoke to Mizami. There was still the usual combative edge to his voice, but he unconsciously reeled it in under her gentle but firm gaze. “It’s not my style.”

“Kakuto told you, didn’t he? The elders will contact you soon. A derghoshiin wielder has a lot of influence in the clan and they’ll want to make sure you’re the right kind of person to have it. There’s a lot you don’t know because of….” She trailed off, leaving Kotaru to wonder if she would finish her sentence or not. He knew what she wanted to say and it made his blood slowly begin to boil.

“Go ahead and say it,” he hissed from both anger and pain as she tightly wrapped his injuries. “My parents didn’t teach me shit. Owwww!” Mizami snatched a bandage around his arm and very clearly gave him a glare that said ’Watch your tone and your language.’ He continued on, quieter this time, “They didn’t teach me about all the different shiin or about clan politics. I learned how to manifest my melashiin at will on my own. They preferred to pretend I didn’t exist, especially after….” Kotaru stalled, cutting himself off and refusing to elaborate even as Mizami asked. There were still some things that he never talked about, not even to his best friends. “But what do they think now? The whole clan knows I’m not the weakling they always thought I was.”

Mizami didn't respond to that, instead focusing on covering Kotaru's still oozing wounds. Finally she looked up at him, and again her warm gaze perplexed him. “Things are changing quickly for you. Perhaps even more quickly than for Tatsuo.” She gave Kotaru a sympathetic look and he found that he sort of hated that look, but also sort of didn’t. “He’s had time to come to terms with the clan and and decide how he wants to live as an Akari. How he wants to help change the clan.” She finished up, giving Kotaru’s newly bandaged arm a light pat. “What is it that you want, Kotaru?”

Somehow Kotaru held back a snort. ‘What I want?’ He had asked himself that several times, ever since he had graduated the academy. He had never wanted to be like the monsters he saw the first time he had witnessed the events of the arena. He had lived his life in fear and in hiding; he had wanted to avoid the attention of his clan and the quiet wrath of his parents. But now that he was older, now that he had gained strength and notoriety and had killed his fellow clan members more than once, he knew he couldn’t ignore his nature. Whether it was because of the Akari blood that ran through his veins or because of the way he grew up, he wasn’t sure. But he knew that he was constantly pissed off for one reason or another.

Kotaru thirsted for blood.

“I don’t think you want to know the answer to that.” Mizami gave him a quizzical look and hummed. The boy thought that she looked as if she wanted to say something else. Not giving her the chance, he stood to his feet and gave her a small bow. “See you at dinner.” He needed time alone. He left the training grounds and wandered the village, trying to think about anything and everything except his damn clan.

[Kao]

SpoilerShow

*[Iijutsu • Blood Clot Technique]
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
This highly useful field technique is applied to bleeding wounds to help encourage the coagulation of the blood. After focusing chakra into his/her hands, the user will hover them over the bleeding wound and begin to channel chakra through it. The chakra will began to thicken the blood, causing it to clot. Wounds must be dealt with one at a time, and the number of wounds that can be tended to within the three (3) posts that this technique lasts depends on their size. Small wounds take very little time to clot, while moderate wounds take one (1) post of concentration to clot, and large wounds take two (2) posts to clot. Although this technique stops the bleeding, the wound remains vulnerable and will require further care after this has been performed.

“Have you been practicing?”

Kotaru sat in the kitchen with an enormous bowl of ice cream in front of him. He’d eaten about half of it by the time Mizami came from upstairs, and for a moment Kotaru wanted to hide to bowl so she wouldn’t see just how much he was stuffing his face. The woman didn’t seem to mind though, and she gave him a warm smile and waited for him to answer her.

He knew what she was talking about without her having to elaborate. Kotaru’s training sessions with Kakuto and Aiko often left him bruised and bleeding, and Mizami insisted that the boy learn how to patch himself up. ‘I won’t be always around to put a bandaid on it,’ she had told him cheerfully, and her warm demeanor had quickly disarmed him and he relented.

Iijutsu was something very new to him. Kotaru didn’t use ninjutsu much, and when he did it was always the destructive element of katon. It suited him, destroying things and rendering them to ashes; he didn’t know if he was capable of healing. He practiced creating iijutsu chakra more than he cared to admit, sometimes staying up late in his bedroom and trying to create the chakra while lying down for bed. It took a while but eventually he got used to creating it in its raw form.

He demonstrated it for her, holding up his hand as it became coated in a light green chakra. “Good, good,” Mizami said. And then she held up her own hand.

Kotaru stared at the blood that was dripping down her arm. He looked behind her and to the floor and a trail of crimson droplets led up the stairs. “What-”

“Don’t worry, I’m just clumsy. Give me a hand, Kotaru.” She lay a towel on the counter and placed her hand on top of it. Her wound was a long, somewhat deep cut on her palm, and he could almost call it neat. The boy glanced up at her, almost as if asking permission, and she encouraged him with a slight nod and the same warm smile as always. “Just as we practiced.”

The jounin sighed. They hadn’t exactly practiced how to stop bleeding. She had told him what to do, he had read about it. But this was the first time he would perform the technique himself. Strangely, he was a bit nervous. But with Mizami’s encouragement he place his glowing hand above her wound and concentrated.

At first he didn’t think he was doing it right. She was still bleeding, the cut was still there. But the more he concentrated on what he was doing, the more he could see that it was slowly - very slowly - working. The technique he used did nothing to close the wound, but it was clear that the flow was slowing up. Finally it stopped completely; it was strange, but Kotaru just knew it was finished based on the feel of the chakra. He couldn’t put it in words, but he knew he was successful.

But just to be sure, he looked up at Mizami. She smiled - beamed, even - and used her uninjured hand to pat the top of his head.

534 words

---

SpoilerShow

*[Iijutsu • Chakra Stitching]
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
When traditional stitching supplies aren't available, *[Iijutsu • Chakra Stitching] truly shines. After performing a short set of handseals, the user will gently place his/her index finger at the base of the patient's wound. Once this is done, the user will lift his/her finger and touch it to the other side of the wound, causing a visible 'stitch' of chakra to appear. This is repeated until the wound has been pulled together. Although precision is key, this technique can still be performed relatively quickly. Small to moderate wounds take very little time to stitch, while large wounds will take one (1) post of work to mend. This technique drains a minuscule amount of chakra from the person it is attached to in order to keep the stitches going, theoretically, ad-infinitum, and can be cancelled at any time by the user with a single handseal. Any intensive or strenuous movements will cause the stitches to break.

“Now,” Mizami said as she lowered her hand from atop Kotaru’s head. “The wound is pretty deep, right?” The boy nodded. “We could always bandage it, but I think I could use a few stitches.” At that, Kotaru’s lips tightened in a thin line. Just what the hell had she been doing up there? When she asked she waved him away and essentially repeated herself. She would need stitches, and she had previously explained to him how to perform the stitching technique that nearly all medical shinobi knew.

After wiping away the blood that stained her skin, Kotaru began with the hand seals that she had taught him. But as he performed the last seal she shook her head. “That’s not right,” she corrected him gently. She couldn’t exactly demonstrate the hand seals herself, so instead she walked him through it. She told him every seal that needed to be performed, one by one, and he followed her. Once he performed the seals correctly she made him do it again, this time more quickly, and then urged him to memorize the correct sequence.

The jounin gave a small sigh. Iijutsu was already frustrating. It was so different than katon, and he was almost certain that he would rarely use it. Maybe he could convince Tatsuo to learn iijutsu, though the art seemed to suit the more compassionate Mitsuo more.

After he formed the seals, his fingers began to glow faintly. Mizami instructed him to place his finger on one side of the wound. When he obliged, she told him to touch the other side. A thin, faint trail of chakra followed his fingers, and when he touched the other side the end of thread-like chakra settled on her skin.

Kotaru then touched the other side, the thread of chakra following. He did this over and over again, trying to keep it neat. It was a little sloppy - the pattern was a bit uneven - but it was working. He pulled on the chakra thread when he was told and it seemed to be working. The chakra was pulling the wound closed. When he reached the opposite end of the wound he gently pulled the chakra to fully close the wound.

The jounin felt a little bit of pride at his handiwork. Sure, it wasn’t the best or neatest stitching, but he had done it on his own. Well, mostly on his own. Mizami held up her hand and scrutinized his work, and for a second he thought she would tell him how messy it was. But instead the woman smiled at him, patted his head, and then said, “Good job.”

438 words

---

SpoilerShow

*[Iijutsu • Bandage Technique]
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
Prerequisite: *[Iijutsu • Sterilization Technique]
A simple yet vital medical technique, the *[Iijutsu • Bandage Technique] provides its users with the ability to create makeshift bandages out of any suitable material they desire. After channeling chakra into an object (such as a leaf, piece of cloth, etc.), the user is able to apply it to the wound of a patient. Once applied, the selected object will adhere to the flesh around the wound, protecting it from bacteria and other harmful foreign bodies. Objects used for the bandage technique are automatically sterilized in the process. These bandages drain a minuscule amount of chakra from the person it is attatched to in order to keep them stuck on, theoretically, ad-infinitum, and can be cancelled at any time by the user with a single handseal. While not as effective at stopping bleeding as the [Iijutsu • Chakra Stitching] technique, they hold on much better in the case that strenuous movement is necessary.

Just when Kotaru thought he was done patching up his foster mom, she rolled up her sleeve to reveal another injury. This one wasn’t nearly as bad as the one on her palm. It had already stopped bleeding and it seemed like she had wiped away the blood that was there. But it was still an open cut, and the sight of it made him frown.

“What…what were you doing?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Like I said, I’m just clumsy. Trust me, Kotaru, don’t worry about it.”

He didn’t trust her. As far as he knew, Mizami wasn’t one to engage in much training, and she hadn’t been in the kitchen cooking anything. He couldn’t imagine how she ended up cutting both her palm and forearm to such a degree, but no matter how much he asked her about it, she dismissed him.

“I just need a bandage, Kotaru.”

“Okay…I’ll go get the first aid kit.”

“Ah,” she breathed, her smile seeming to falter somewhat. “I checked already. We’re out.”

Kotaru stared. “Then…I’ll go buy some. I’ll be-”

“Oh, there’s no need. You can just create a makeshift bandage and put it on my hand and arm.”

He asked her how, and she looked genuinely glad that she asked. She used her good hand to rip the bottom of her shirt. Kotaru stared at her, completely confused, with his mouth twisted and lips slightly parted. This impromptu iijutsu training session was getting weird.

She placed the cloth in his hands and smiled. “Use this as a bandage. There’s a technique that allows you to sterilize objects to use as bandages when you don’t have any around. You can use cloth, leaves, just about anything that will adhere to the skin and still allow for movement.” Mizami instructed him to channel iijutsu chakra into the ripped cloth, and after he did she told him to simply place it on her wounded arm. When he did, the cloth seemed to stick to her and when he removed his hand it stayed still.

“This will drain a little of my chakra in order to keep it adhered to my skin, but the chakra drained is so negligible that I wouldn’t notice if I were in the field.” Kotaru nodded and then watched as she ripped a bit more of her shirt. She instructed him to do the same technique but this time for her stitched hand. He obliged, and when he finished he hesitantly asked if she had any other wounds that he didn’t know about.

“No, no,” she laughed, standing to her feet and stretching her legs. “Thank you for your help, Kotaru.” With that she left him alone to finish his nearly completely melted ice cream.

445 words

[Kao]

The Quiet Game

SpoilerShow

Quiet on the Landing
C-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
Kotaru has mastered landing quietly after jumping or leaping from a great height and is able to do so without injuring himself. Only those using specializes hearing techniques are able to hear his nearly completely silent landing.

Kotaru finally had time for his favorite training partner. He hadn’t seen Aiko in weeks, and when she finally returned to the village from one of her extended missions, he found himself almost excited to see her. He arrived at the training grounds first and sat atop a tall and pointy boulder, his melashiin already out and dancing lazily behind him.

“Yo!”

He almost jumped out of skin when he heard her familiar voice. Kotaru peered down to see the kunoichi waving at him, and he stood up, unconsciously flaring his shiin to maintain his balance. There she was, staring up at him with her dark blue eyes that reminded him of a deep northern lake that he wouldn’t mind taking a drink from. He quickly dispelled the thought.

He shouted back at her, “Oi, Aiko!” and then he stepped down from the rock. He fell several meters down, though the descent wasn’t uncontrolled or frightening to the young boy. In fact, he landed deftly and nimbly, somewhat like a cat. When he stood to his full height he noticed that Aiko was suppressing a giggle. He looked at her quizzically which gave him the response, “You sounded like a fat man landing like that.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Nothing, nothing,” she smirked. Kotaru narrowed his eyes at her. “That was just rather loud.”

With a small scoff he turned his back on her and swiftly scaled the rock again. He of course took her comment as a challenge, so when he reached the rock’s summit, he took a moment to stare down at her. Kotaru essentially flexed at the girl. He straightened himself to his full height, swung his arms so that his biceps slightly tensed, and he even swung all of the tendrils his melashiin around like one giant tail.

Then, in a graceful movement, he stepped off the rock. He had been training himself to move silently for the past few months, and moving without expending too much extra energy. Landing quietly had been one of his focuses, so the fact that the girl called him out on that specifically simply irked the boy. He would show her that he could land effortlessly, silently, even from that height.

When he landed, he heard nothing. It was as if his feet hadn’t contacted the ground at all, but there he was standing in front of Aiko after dropping down a few dozen meters. When he stood up to his full height he looked over his shoulder at her, triumphant, but she was barely paying attention.

“Good enough, I suppose.”

Kotaru simply scoffed in response.

425 words

---

SpoilerShow

Blend In
D-Ranked Taijutsu Stance
Kotaru is able to blend in with large crowns and can easily maneuver around people without bumping into them or drawing much attention to himself. Someone who is actively looking for him, however, will be able to pick him out of the crowd.

“Let’s play a game.”

Kotaru’s eyebrow perked. He and Aiko had just engaged in a friendly spar, and he was sitting against a rock wall. She was lying next to him, her head near his leg and some of her hair was splayed in his lap. He had to fight the urge to touch it.

“What kind of game?” he asked, never taking his eyes off her rising and falling chest. She didn’t seem to notice where his gaze was.

“You mentioned you’ve been training stealth techniques. Prove it.”

Kotaru sighed, pretending to be annoyed at the suggestion. Truthfully he was intrigued, but he didn’t want to seem too eager in front of her. Aiko explained the rules of the game: she was supposed to meet up with one of her teammates, and the two had been playfully at odds lately. This friend - Hiroya - had been bragging that no one could ever sneak up on him; no one escaped his notice. “Prove him wrong,” she said just before she described him and took off.

The next time Kotaru sighed it was genuine. Aiko talked about this Hiroya guy a lot ever since they became teammates, and whenever she did he found himself becoming inexplicably annoyed. After giving the girl a head start he raced in the same direction. When he got near his designation he slowed down considerably. There were a lot of people out that day, shopping and running errands. According to Aiko, Hiroya would be somewhere in the crowd running his own errands before they met up.

Kotaru joined the crowd, light on his feet and aware of his surroundings. The crowd wasn’t very thick so blending in took a bit more effort than he anticipated, but it was nothing he couldn’t pull off. Kotaru had grown up not wanting to garner attention from others, so he knew how to move through a crowd almost completely unnoticed. When someone walked too close to him he shifted his body so that they wouldn’t touch. He kept his head down somewhat, avoiding too much eye contact but still appearing natural and like he belonged. Even when someone was about to run into him, whether it was his fault or theirs, at the last second he shifted and avoided running into the other person completely. At those times, the other person never even noticed how close they had been to colliding.

The jounin effortlessly worked his way through the crowd searching for his target and when he found the guy, the Akari rolled his eyes. Of course he was tall and muscular and what girls would consider handsome. He’d have to try to enjoy stalking him for the day.

447 words

---

SpoilerShow

Up the Walls
D-Ranked Taijutsu Stance
Kotaru has trained himsself to scale buildings silently without the use of chakra. He is able to find footholds and noiselessly use acrobatic maneuvers if necessary. Kotaru cannot be heard unless someone is listening for him or is using a specialized hearing technique.

Kotaru watched his target with a frown.

Hiroya was loud. He was obnoxious. He moved through the market with his head held high and a pep in his step, and it seemed like he couldn’t go to any of the stalls without someone recognizing him and engaging in him pleasant - and sometimes eager - conversation. Then there were the girls. They were all over him, only leaving when he excused himself to visit another store.

Eventually Hiroya moved to a quieter part of town in the Northern District. There weren’t nearly as many people walking around, and the people who stopped to greet him or chat came less and less frequently. When he reached a residential area, there were hardly any people around. It was the perfect time to put his skills to the test.

Hiroya approached a gated community and Kotaru’s eye roll was practically audible. Of course the guy was rich on top of being good looking. There wasn’t a guard anywhere to be seen, but he was sure that he couldn’t just go meandering through the community without someone noticing.

Kotaru kept to the shadows and began to walk around the perimeter. The walls weren’t that high, nowhere near as thick and high as the walls that surrounded the Akari compound. So he must not have been that important. After a few seconds of looking he found a spot he was sure he could scale: it was shaded by tall trees, the leaves browning with the oncoming of autumn, and there was a building close enough to the wall that he wouldn’t likely be seen climbing.

He moved toward the wall, his footsteps making almost no sound, and when he was in the shadow of the tree and the nearby building he quickly scanned the wall. It was rather old and this particular section had been somewhat neglected. There were stones missing, some jutting from the walls, and there were even a few vines snaking over the bricks.

Child’s play. He could have used chakra to climb the wall, but Aiko had warned him that Hiroya would be using sensory techniques every once in a while, especially ones that detected chakra. He and Aiko had been playing this game for a while, and they were always on the lookout for one another. With that in mind, Kotaru simply started scaling the wall.

It was easy to find footholds, and if he had to he could have used the nearby building as a launch point to place a foot and jump over the wall. He had been practicing sneaking about without using chakra for some time now, so scaling the wall was easy for the boy. Within a few seconds he was up and over the wall and still on Hiroya’s trail.

461 words

---

SpoilerShow

Silent Steps
B-Ranked Taijutsu Stance
Kotaru has trained himself to move silently while moving at full speed. Whether walking or running, only those with advanced hearing techniques will be able to hear the faint sound of his footsteps.

He couldn’t find him.

In the minute that it took him to find a location to scale the small compound’s wall and to actually scale it, he lost sight of Hiroya completely. It didn’t help that he had to sneak around and go unnoticed either. Asking someone if they had seen the other shinobi was out of the question, and he had no idea where he was going or where Hiroya could have disappeared to.

So instead of aimlessly wandering the small compound and hoping the other boy would turn up, he returned to the compound’s wall and sat in the shadows, absolutely still. He knew he would have to leave eventually since he had yet to meet up with Aiko. The two were scheduled to meet up in the Eastern District to go over their mission requests. He would have to leave his home eventually.

After an hour of patient waiting, Hiroya finally walked by. He didn’t seem to notice Kotaru sitting a bit of a ways to the side, and Kotaru allowed a bit of distance to grow between them before he stood up and followed him. This Hiroya seemed like he didn’t have anywhere in particular to go, and Kotaru was almost becoming bored with stalking someone who was so one-dimensional.

But then suddenly, Hiroya took off. He started running, fast and it caught Kotaru completely off guard. It took him a moment to recover, but only a moment. He followed behind him, matching his speed and at the same time making sure he was moving without making too much noise. He noticed that Hiroya wasn’t very fast and that there was no need to run at his full speed; if he did, he would quickly overtake him and even outpace him.

It wasn’t difficult to keep up with the other shinobi, and Kotaru found that his training was definitely paying off. Months of training in covert arts had served him well, and he was positive that even when they dashed through areas empty of other people, Hiroya couldn’t hear him. Kotaru was close enough that he could pick up the sounds of Hiroya landing, especially when he jumped down from atop one building or jumped atop another. Kotaru’s footfalls, in comparison, were as silent as a cat’s. He didn’t even kick up any dirt as he pursued his prey of the day.

Hiroya stopped running as they neared the center of town, and Kotaru slowed his pace to a walk. The two shinobi made their way down a pathway that spiraled beneath the ground, and soon they were moving through the large expanse of Iwa’s underground.

Beneath Iwagakure was much more impressive than what was above ground. The structures above were made to blend in with the surrounding mountains, but underground there was much more variety in the architecture. Underground were even more markets and residences, and Kotaru watched as Hiroya sold something to a merchant and then headed to a subterranean residential area. Instead of following him inside, he waited again, and this time the jounin only waited about twenty minutes before the older shinobi wandered out again.

And then, for whatever reason, Hiroya took off in a run again. Somehow Kotaru was ready for it, and like before he followed behind him at a silent run. It was easy, effortless to follow behind Hiroya and have enough distance between them that he wasn’t detected. He hoped that Hiroya wasn’t using any sensory techniques with a wide range, otherwise….

‘Oh.’

As he continued his pursuit, it occurred to him that although he was following rather quietly, there was a chance that Hiroya had used sensory to detect him and was aware that he was being followed. He may have been running to get Kotaru off his trail. Too bad it wasn’t working.

628 words

---

SpoilerShow

Silent Breaths
C-Ranked Taijutsu Stance
Kotaru has trained himself to control his breathing and breathe silently. Even if he is out of breath after strenuous activity, he is able to control his breathing and produce almost no noise. Those who use special listening techniques will be able to pick up on very faint sounds of his breathing.

Finally, finally they stopped running. Kotaru wasn’t tired in the least, but he was growing a bit annoyed by Hiroya. He could only guess that the older shinobi was trying to give him the slip, but it wouldn’t be that easy. Unlike Kotaru, Hiroya wasn’t adept at blending in crowds or scaling buildings without being noticed. Whenever Hiroya changed directions it was obvious, and Kotaru never lost sight of him for more than a few seconds during his pursuit.

Hiroya’s movements were predictable as well. Even when he stopped running Kotaru knew it was coming. He had stopped running as fast, and Kotaru had to slow his pace considerably. If he had to guess, they had been running nonstop for nearly two hours, darting around the village and venturing in areas that Kotaru had never even been in before.

Kotaru wasn’t tired but he did find that his breaths were coming a bit heavier than usual. When the two stopped running, the Akari wanted to get a bit closer to the other shinobi. He wanted to see if Hiroya had actually noticed him or if he was just in the middle in some kind of endurance training. Kotaru had done some similar exercises so it wasn’t exactly unheard of.

Although his breaths were a bit heavier than normal, he could control his breathing to the extent that even the heavier breaths made little to no noise. It was something he had trained himself to master over the past few months and it came almost second nature to him. He had to do it purposefully, silencing his breaths, but when he did so it wasn’t difficult and it didn’t take much of his focus.

Even if he got close enough to Hiroya, he was certain that the older shinobi wouldn’t be able to hear his breaths unless he was looking for the sound and was using some sort of technique that enhanced his sense of hearing. Aiko hadn’t mentioned that Hiroya had this skill, but the way she described their little game he wouldn’t be surprised if the other ninja did have a skill like that.

Kotaru allowed himself to get even closer to his prey. He had caught his breath by that point, but even so he was glad that he had spent so much time training so that the sound of his breathing was effectively undetectable. How that he was close to the other shinobi, he decided to observe him to determine if he knew that he was being followed.

417 words

---

SpoilerShow

Quiet on the Draw
D-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
Kotaru has learned how to draw his weapons without producing much noise. Those who are actively listening for him, even without a specialized hearing technique, will still be able to hear the soft noises of Kotaru drawing his weapons.

Hiroya was onto him. Kotaru was sure of it as he watched the older shinobi slow up his pace and look to his left, then to his right. The move was clearly supposed to be a surreptitious one, but Kotaru could tell what he was doing. There was no longer any doubt that the other shinobi knew that he was being followed.

Even so, Kotaru kept up his pursuit. He followed him through the underground markets, past residences, past government buildings. They walked through one of the village’s underground parks, and as they did Kotaru made sure he lingered within the many shadows cast down from the trees.

Iwagakure’s underground forests were impressive. They were deliberately planted and maintained, and by some fuuinjutsu unknown to Kotaru the entire area was illuminated by light that simulated the conditions above ground. By that time the sun was setting, and the area was lit up by deep golden rays. Suddenly, Hiroya stopped. Kotaru was several meters behind, peering down at him from the canopy of a tree. But even from that height he could see that Hiroya’s hand was hovering over his left leg pouch. The young man’s head was tilted to the side in Kotaru’s direction, and in that moment he could only assume that the older shinobi was using some sort of sensory technique.

Kotaru’s hand hovered his dagger. It may have been overkill, and he likely wouldn’t have needed the weapon. But Hiroya’s body language seemed to be hinting that he could reach for some weapon at any time. Since the older shinobi had stopped so suddenly and was leaning towards Kotaru’s position…

Hiroya drew a kunai. Kotaru, without thinking or hesitating, drew his dagger. There was a difference in the two shinobi’s techniques. Hiroya drew a single kunai from his pouch, but it was noisy. In the silence of the forest Kotaru could pick up the soft clink of metal hitting metal as the kunai was drawn from its holster and brushed against whatever other metal weapons were in the pouch.

Kotaru’s movement, however, was silent. He had practiced this many times before, drawing his weapons without making any noise. The dagger didn’t scrape against the holster, and he drew it skillfully so that it didn’t even hit the sides of the holster. His movement, unlike Hirayo’s made next to no sound. If Hiroya was listening for the sound, or if he was using some sort of technique to enhance his hearing, he likely would have heard the noise. Faintly, but it may have been audible. But he made no movement that he had heard anything; in fact he turned his head slightly to the right and away from Kotaru’s position.

‘It’s just a game,’ Kotaru told himself, but he could feel the pace of his heartbeat quicken. It was just a game, there was no need to fight. But even with that thought in mind, the young jounin’s lips twisted into a smirk as he waited for Hirayo’s next move.

496 words

---

SpoilerShow

Endurance
C-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: 20 Stamina, 20 Strength
Having trained his body to withstand pain, he is able endure pain from moderate lacerations, burns, and fractures. This does not lessen the damage his body takes or has taken, but he is simply able to push through and not be hindered by pain from his injuries.

“Aikoooooo!”

Kotaru’s brow jutted up. As he thought, Hirayo knew that he was being followed. But he hadn’t expected to be mistaken for Aiko and for a moment Kotaru froze. Hirayo’s sensory skills must not have been very developed since he couldn’t distinguish Aiko’s chakra signature from his own. He refrained from rolling his eyes, instead choosing to observe.

The older shinobi turned in a circle, brandishing the kunai in his hand. It wasn’t threatening, the way he held it, but Kotaru kept his eyes on it. “I know you gotta be out there, Aiko,” the older shinobi continued, “since you weren’t at Grand Ramen.” That reminded Kotaru - he hadn’t eaten in a while.

He heard the older ninja sigh in frustration and then, surprisingly, replace his kunai back into the leg pouch. But then, without warning, the man flew into some hand seals and then outstretched his arms to either side of his body.

What came next was going overboard, even by Kotaru’s standards. A fierce wind kicked up around Hirayo’s feet, and in less than a second it turned into a huge, visible whirlwind. It snatched up rocks and small plants, throwing them violently into the air. Kotaru lost sight of the other shinobi as the whirlwind gained strength, and he made a motion to get away. But before he could, the whirlwind expanded at a startling speed.

It hit Kotaru like a sack of bricks. He grunted at the impact, hoping the noise wasn’t too loud, but even if it had been the sound of the sudden storm would have easily drowned him out. He quickly sent chakra to the bottom of his feet so he could remain standing on the thick tree limb, but that only kept him in place for the beating.

The fuuton technique sent debris flying into him. It cut into his exposed skin, sliced up his jacket and pants. He jumped to a neighboring branch and stood with his back against the tree trunk but it did little in blocking the damaging wind. The wounds weren’t severe but he was covered in cuts, bleeding a bit on his face and hands. He shut his eyes to protect them and waited for Hirayo’s tempest to subside.

When it finally did, Kotaru didn’t move. He was covered in cuts, had been hit by flying debris. A lesser shinobi would have been in quite a bit of pain, but Kotaru endured. He had trained himself to ignore pain from these kinds of injuries, and even some that were more severe. Though he was bleeding a little, the wounds were superficial and it did nothing to deter him. He would still play the game.

443 words

---

SpoilerShow

Resilience
B-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: 25 Stamina, 25 Strength
Having trained his body to withstand pain, he is able endure pain from major lacerations, burns, and broken bones. This does not lessen the damage his body takes or has taken, but he is simply able to push through and not be hindered by pain from his injuries.

When the sound of the tempest subsided, Kotaru finally opened his eyes. Around him the trees appeared battered, many of the thinner limbs having been ripped away and strewn on the ground. There were smaller trees and plants near Hirayo that had been uprooted, and there were small wounds on the ground where the fuuton had cut into the dirt. Kotaru’s concern at that moment, however, was that the people in charge of the upkeep of the forest would not be pleased.

“Did I get ya?” Hiroya called to “Aiko,” sounding pleased with himself. The tone infuriated Kotaru and he clenched his fist and teeth. ‘What an ass,’ he mentally complained. Hiroya continued on: laughing, taunting, daring who he thought was Aiko to come out of hiding. But that wasn’t part of the game; he was supposed to go undetected, not lose his cool and whack this idiot across the head for destroying Iwagakure property.

Slowly Kotaru peered from behind the tree. It seemed like Hiroya still didn’t know his exact location, possibly because the rang of his sensory didn’t go very far. If that were the case then Hirayo was a novice sensor at best and the range of his techniques was pathetic. Kotaru was no more than 15 meters from Hirayo’s position.

But then, Hiroya started forming hand seals again. Like before, the wind began to kick up around Hiroya’s feet and a whirlwind began to form. But this one was different. The last storm of fuuton barely made it to the top of the taller trees in the forest. This one, however, towered over the canopies. It was even louder than before, and if Kotaru had wanted to yell for the older shinobi to stop what he was doing, there was no way he would have been heard.

The tempest was much fiercer, and as soon as the wind kicked up he lost sight of Hiroya. Leaves, branches, roots, rocks, and logs were ripped up from the ground and thrown into the air, and everything was slung with enough force that some of the the debris ripped right through even the thicker trees. Somehow Kotaru avoided the worst of it even though he was caught in the fuuton, but he had to bat away some of the debris or else he would have been injured. Even as he avoided the debris, the fuuton was cutting into him. And unlike before, these weren’t superficial wounds. These wounds were much deeper, bled much more freely, and the boy grimaced.

Thinking quickly he jumped to another tree branch to get out of range of the most dangerous winds, but as soon as he landed the branch was torn apart. He had to leap again and again, and even after he put another ten meters between them he still found himself in range of the tempest.

His wounds were bad, on his arms especially. The exposed skin was cut up, and even his face was wounded. The injuries were bad, sure, but Kotaru ignored the pain. To him it was just discomfort and didn’t stop him from trying to get away from the storm. He had trained to withstand pain, even from injuries as bad at the ones that littered the exposed skin of his arms and face.  

A less experienced Kotaru would have succumbed to the pain in one way or another. But Kotaru as he was had very little issue with withstanding the pain. He had been beaten by Tatsuo, by Kakuto, and none of them knew what it meant to be “gentle.” Kakuto especially wanted to toughen Kotaru up, and over the past few training sessions Kotaru had gotten used to pain from lacerations and bruises that it hardly bothered him. He needed medical attention though, that much was absolutely certain. Instead of lingering about, Kotaru retreated for the time being to get himself patched up.

645 words

---

SpoilerShow

I am Become Silence
A-Ranked Taijutsu Stance
Kotaru has mastered moving completely silently while using his full speed. Whether walking, making slight or grand maneuvers, or running, he is able to move completely silently even during combat. Even if his opponent is using a specialized hearing technique, his movements are completely silent while in this stance.

Just as Kotaru turned to leave, something caught his attention. It was Hiroya, and he was laughing. “There you are, Aiko. I thought I told you that you can’t sneak up on me. Didn’t believe me?”

The boy’s head whipped around and sure enough there was his friend and training partner. She was out in the open and was standing a few meters in front of Hiroya. Standing perhaps wasn’t the right word. Like Kotaru she had been hit by the other shinobi’s fuuton techniques, and like Kotaru she wasn’t in the best shape. Some of her wounds matched his own, and she even seemed to be bleeding even more than he was. He couldn’t really hear it from so far away but he could tell by the deep rises and falls of her chest that she was breathing heavily, and that she was in pain. The sight made his teeth clench in growing fury.

The entire time he had been pursing Hiroya, he hadn’t considered that Aiko was also playing the game. Aiko, like him, had been training in stealth, and at that moment it made sense to him that she would also be pursuing her teammate. After all, the game was her idea. Hiroya taunted her again, and again she didn’t respond.

“Quiet and stubborn as ever,” he commented, crossing his arms and giving her a troubling grin. “Just say I won. Come on, get on with it.” The sight made Kotaru’s anger bubble. Instead of helping his clearly injured teammate, Hiroya chose to sneer at her. The older shinobi asked Aiko if she wanted to finish their spar from a few days prior. Aiko remained silent.

Then, to Kotaru’s surprise, Hirayo suddenly lurched forward and punched the girl in the gut. She groaned, unprepared for it and fell to her knees.

That’s when Kotaru lost it.

He jumped from his perch, completely ignoring the groans coming from his own wounds and raced forward. His footsteps, like before, were completely silent, and as he approached the pair he called forth his temershiin. That particular shiin wasn’t one he used often, but it was large and had a long reach. He wanted to hit that bastard as quickly as he could.

Hiroya didn’t see it coming. He had flexed and prepared to hit Aiko again, but before he could raise his fist Kotaru raised his temershiin, the sharp and straight end aiming right for Hiroya’s offending arm. He made absolutely no noise as the temershiin whipped forward and sliced a long, deep wound into Hiroya’s flesh.

The shinobi hissed and cried out, whipping around and away from Aiko. But by that time Kotaru had launched himself in the air, flipping over him and landing between him and Aiko. All of his movements - the leap, the landing, and the subsequent slash from his temershiin - were all completely soundless. Another slash to Hiroya’s opposite arm left the special jounin reeling, and he finally turned around and met Kotaru face to face.

Confusion flooded his features. Clearly the young man had been expecting only one pursuer, not two. The entire time Hiroya had been preparing himself to come face to face with only Aiko; he had apparently never made preparations to face a second opponent. His eyes widened even more as confusion gave way to recognition. “You-!”

“Me.”

His temershiin sliced through the air again, this time aiming for Hiroya’s face. The young man leaped backward, barely making it out of the shiin’s range. But Kotaru wasn’t done. He had already determined that the other shinobi was slow and knew that he could outpace him. He sliced over and over again, aiming for Hiroya’s face, arms, chest, legs. Anywhere he could reach, anywhere he could find an opening, Kotaru took it. Somehow the other shinobi was able to keep up, but only barely. Every few attacks left Hiroya injured, and pretty soon his wounds looked like those of Kotaru and Aiko.

“STOP IT!” Hiroya had managed to put a but of distance between the two of them, and he was getting desperate. The shinobi focused chakra to his fist and slammed it onto the ground, and the earth around him split. As the ground opened up, dust and dirt flew up, obscuring Kotaru’s vision.

The jounin smiled. The didn’t need to see the other shinobi; it wasn’t difficult to figure out what he was going to do next. Kotaru quickly manifested his melashiin, and eight long, deep red tendrils waved behind him. He waited only a few seconds for Hiroya’s counter attack. When it came, he was ready. He had honed his senses in anticipation, and when he heard Hiroya moving behind him, his shiin tensed. He couldn’t see Hiroya, but that meant Hiroya likely couldn’t see him. Sense him, yes, but he had already proven that his sensing abilities were subpar.

Kotaru let the other shinobi come to him. Hiroya’s body grazed against one of the melashiin tendrils and the jounin felt him tense. It seemed he wasn’t expecting to come in contact with the tendril, and that worked in Kotaru’s favor. He whipped two more tendrils in Hiroya’s direction. Again, the motion was soundless, and the fact that Hiroya couldn’t see or hear it coming meant that he didn’t prepare to counter.

The tendrils slammed into Hiroya, one after the other, and Kotaru heard the older shinobi hit the ground. By that time the dust was beginning to settle and the jounin could make out his opponent’s silhouette. Kotaru dashed forward without making a sound, and once he was two meters from Hiroya he raised his temershiin and slammed down, hard.

Hiroya didn’t know what hit him. There was no sound when the temershiin whipped through the air; the attack was completely silent until the moment the jounin’s huge tail made contact with the other ninja’s head. Hiroya didn’t counterattack. Kotaru never gave him the opportunity. His shiin, both the melashiin and the temershiin, rained down his displeasure and his fury. Every hit reminded him of the way he had hit Aiko, and every hit was angrier than the last. Only when Hiroya stopped groaning and moving and the dust completely settle did Kotaru end his attack, panting as he looked down on Hiroya’s unconscious form.

1039 words

[Kao]

<3

[Kao]

SpoilerShow

Barrage
B-Ranked Ninjutsu
After performing the needed seals, within 4 posts Kotaru can create up to 7 balls of katon from his palms. Each ball is 8 inches in diameter and can be launched at a speed of 15 and hit with a strength of 25. The balls can travel to a maximum distance of 20 meters. On impact, the katon erupts in a ball of flames 3 meters in diameter.

Kotaru faced off against three identical copies of his friend. Perhaps ‘friend’ wasn’t the right word, but he didn’t know exactly what to call them. He tried not to think about it as the three Aikos slowly circled them, their expressions indicating they were intent on making this training session as difficult as possible. The real Aiko sat a considerable distance away, several meters above the scene. Kotaru had insisted she stay back and had only agreed to this training under the condition that she used clones.

He formed a long string of seals, going through them rapidly. His sealing seemed to act as a signal to the clones, who simultaneously rushed toward him. He gathered katon chakra to his hands, and in his left hand formed a large ball of fire. The jounin held it in his palm, waiting for the clones to get closer. When one of them, Aiko Clone One, was within ten meters of his position, he held his palm toward her and launched the katon from his palm.

The clone dodged it like it was nothing. The katon ball was slow compared to the movements of the clone, and by the time the kataon hit the ground the clone was already a couple meters away from it. Upon impact the ball burst into flames, and though the ensuing burst seemed sizeable, Kotaru was dissatisfied.

The katon was both too slow and too small. The bursting effect upon impact was also less dramatic than he wanted it to be. The clones were closing in, and Kotaru knew that Aiko had specifically made these clones to be physically strong. If they all threw themselves at him at once and engaged in melee combat, the jounin knew he would have a hard time. He held up his opposite hand, and another ball of katon quickly formed in his palm.

When he launched this one, the result was the same. It was too slow, the impact too weak, and by the time it exploded the clones were all right on top of him. Aiko had expressly forbidding him from using his shiin, so he was stuck with smacking them away with a few punches and kicks. Thankfully their speed couldn’t keep up with him, so it only took a few seconds for the jounin to put enough distance between himself and the clones so that he could try again.

He reformed the seals, gathering more chakra this time. As the clones regrouped Kotaru quickly held his right hand palm up and a ball of katon, this one a bit larger than the others had been, and when Aiko Clone three approached from his right he quickly turned on her and launched the attack. Again the katon didn’t move very fast, and the third clone was able to avoid it by stepping to the side. The katon burst after slamming into the ground, erupting in a swirling ball of flames a few meters in diameter. However, unlike before, the resulting ball of flames was bigger than the last, and the clone didn’t seem to anticipate the change. The sidestep hadn’t removed her from the larger blast zone. Clone three was caught in the flames, and the damage was enough to dissipate the clone completely.

It was down to Aiko Clone One and Aiko Clone Two. Kotaru had been pleased with the result of his second attempt, and he started to think that he should focus not on the speed of the attack, but on its strength. The clones appeared to be more cautious, but since they weren’t clones that could utilize ninjutsu and had only a few kunai between them, they had no choice but to fight at a closer range.

The coordinated their attack, Aiko Clone Two coming at him from the front while Aiko Clone One leaped high into the air to attack him from above. Kotaru formed the seals once more. He gathered the chakra in his hands much quicker than before, and he even gathered a bit more than he had been.

This time when the clones tried to attack him up close, he let fire balls loose, one after the other. The clones were close enough that the slower speed of the katon didn’t matter so much. The clones were able to dodge, but the quick barrage of katon - the jounin launched a total of five one after another - left the clones scrambling to get out of the way. Finally, they both were caught in the blast and they both dissipated. Kotaru sighed and released the jutsu, looking up to Aiko for her reaction. She had a slight smile on her face, enough to tell him that she was a tiny bit impressed. The jutsu wasn’t perfect, but he would be able to master it another time.

800 words

---

SpoilerShow

Fusillade
A-Ranked Ninjutsu
After performing the needed seals, within 5 posts Kotaru can create up to 10 balls of katon from his palms. Each ball is 12 inches in diameter. Kotaru is able to throw the katon at a speed equal to his strength, and on impact they burst with a strength of 25. On impact, the balls erupt in a ball of flames 4 meters in diameter.

Just as Kotaru was about to call it a day, Aiko created three more clones. She yelled at him to keep going, noting that he seemed to still be holding back. Kotaru sighed as the new Aiko Clones approached him, seemingly a bit more fearless than the last.

“These clones seem different,” he yelled at her, and he saw the girl’s faint smile widen.

“That’s because I made them stronger. Have fun!”

Kotaru rolled his eyes, but despite himself a small, amused smirk graced his features. At least Aiko was anything but boring. He formed a long string of seals that were similar to the ones he used for his previous jutsu. They took a bit longer to go through, but Kotaru was proficient enough in ninjutsu that it didn’t hold him up too much. The clones seemed to take this as a signal to prepare themselves to attack. Like the clones from earlier, the simultaneously began to rush him, and Kotaru immediately noticed that these clones were a lot faster than the ones that came before them.

Kotaru barely had time to form the katon. Just as a ball of katon formed in his left hand, New Aiko Clone Two was already on top of him and was going for a roundhouse kick to the head. It interrupted Kotaru’s movements, and he was forced to backflip out of the way. But right before he landed, New Aiko Clone One was behind him and it rammed a strong fist in the jounin’s back. It send Kotaru flying, but somehow he was able to twist his body and land on his feet.

‘That kinda hurt,’ he thought to himself as the last clone rushed toward him. Kotaru held up his palm and launched the attack, but unfortunately for him the clone was fast. It sidestepped the katon and kept going, and Kotaru’s eyes widened as the clone began to engage him in hand to hand combat. It went for a punch to the gut, and as soon as Kotaru blocked it with his forearm the clone dropped down, using the opposite hand to balance and it aimed a rising kick to the underside of his chin.

The jounin just barely was able to block the blow, and when he did he was suddenly hit from the side, and once again he was sent flying. He rolled on the landing and stopped when he was in a crouch. His amused smirk was long gone.

He had landed far enough away that he had time to form the hand seals again. He tried to attack them again with the katon, adjusting it in different ways to try to make the attack more effective. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get the katon to launch fast enough to catch any of the clones. They were just too fast.

They kept this up for a long while, and Kotaru could feel himself slowly getting tired. The clones seemed to be slowing down as well, but just barely. They still moved too well, too fast for him to land even one good attack and dispatch them. Each time he launched the katon, the result was the same. They either easily sidestepped the attacks or even leaped over them, and they were never in range of the following burst of flames when the katon collided with the surrounding cliffside or with the ground.

Kotaru was growing frustrated. The next time he formed seals and created the ball of flame, he simply held it. He let the clones continue attacking, and the longer he held onto the katon the more apprehensive they seemed to become. Their attacks came less frequently, and they were keeping an eye on the fire in the palm of Kotaru’s hand.

A few minutes went by in which Kotaru simply avoided their flying fists and feet. Two of the clones seemed to forget about the katon, or at least it wasn’t their main concern after a while. The final clone, however, kept its distance and watched the fight ensue.

Then, when the two clones moved to launch a coordinated attack, Kotaru acted. He reeled his arm back, and instead of launching the katon with the force of his chakra, he threw it. Unlike before, the speed of the attack was much faster, and it caught New Aiko Clone One off guard. The katon met its target and immediately burst into a huge ball of flames, engulfing the clone and dispatching it with a poof of smoke that was lost in the flames.

The second clone immediately retreated. Kotaru, however, didn’t let up. On his frustration he had allocated more chakra than he originally intended, but he found he liked the effect. The balls were larger, the flames that erupted after impact were wilder, and it thrilled him.

The fight continued, and now the clones seemed to be on edge. They were taijutsu clones and therefore forced to fight at closer range, which gave Kotaru more of an advantage. He gathered katon in his palm, again forming a ball of flames, and he threw it, and then another, and then another. The clones were barely fast enough to avoid the balls of flames, but even so they were barely able to avoid the huge fire balls that erupted whenever they hit something. It was becoming harder and harder for the clones to escape, especially since Kotaru was now on a roll.

The jounin let out a laugh as he formed the hand seals again and the fire quickly formed in his palms once more. This time there was no pause in between the balls’ formations. As soon as he threw one he was ready with another, and soon their area of the training grounds was on fire. There weren’t many places that weren’t covered in flames, so there wasn’t much room for the clones to safely maneuver. One of them took to the cliffside, but that didn’t deter the jounin. He continued to throw the fireballs, toying with the clones now, and he eventually caught one and it burst into flames and was destroyed.

He did the same to the last one, dispatching that one more quickly. Once all three clones were dispatched, Kotaru huffed triumphantly.

1032 words

---

SpoilerShow

Rolling Wave
B-Ranked Ninjutsu
After performing the needed seals, Kotaru releases a rolling blast of flames that erupts from his body and expands around him from all sides. The flames are 9 meters high and expand at a speed of 10, hitting with a strength of 30. The flames can spread to a maximum of a 25 meter diameter with Kotaru at the center.

The next day, Kotaru and Aiko were at it again. Aiko once again made her friend face off against three identical copies of herself. The three clones, Aiko ensured, were going to be the same stronger versions of her clone technique that he fought the previous day. She never went easy on him, no matter what. The real Aiko sat a considerable distance away, several meters above the scene. Like the previous day, Kotaru had insisted she stay back so that she wouldn’t get caught in his techniques.

That day’s jutsu he wanted to trained would be different. He formed a long string of seals, going through them rapidly. His sealing seemed to act as a signal to the clones, who simultaneously rushed toward him. He gathered katon chakra throughout his entire body instead of just in his hands. When the clones got closer, he released the katon in a huge wave of fire that erupted from his body.

The clone dodged it by jumping onto the nearby cliffside and scaling it. The katon was slow, even slower than the katon balls he had launched the previous day, compared to the movements of the clones. The katon spread out a considerable distance from his body, but since it was slow and could be dodged so easily, Kotaru was dissatisfied. 

He didn’t intend for the technique to be incredibly fast. It was different in that sense; it was a means to control the battlefield, and would help him in keeping enemies at bay. The clones were closing in, and he formed the seals again. If they all threw themselves at him at once and engaged in melee combat like the had the previous day, he could test his jutsu more. The idea behind the technique was strength, not speed. 

When he released the jutsu a second time, the result was the same. It was slow, but it had an impact, and it was very obvious that this would be a very useful technique once he mastered its use. He could tell by the way the flames hit the surrounding boulders and left burn marks that the flames were strong indeed. Sure, they were slow, but he could think of several situations where the strength of the flames would make up for its slower speed. When the flames subsided, the clones attacked him again, and he smacked their punches and kicks away. Thankfully their speed couldn’t keep up with him, so it only took a few seconds for the jounin to put enough distance between himself and the clones so that he could try again.

He reformed the seals, gathering the same amount of chakra. As the clones regrouped and converged on his position, Kotaru quickly released the technique.  Again the katon didn’t move very fast, and all three clones were able to avoid it by jumping onto the cliffside and climbing However, unlike before, the resulting flames were more intense, and the clones didn’t seem to anticipate the change. One clone didn’t climb quite high enough and was caught in the flames, and the damage was more than enough to dissipate the clone completely.

It was down to Aiko Clone One and Aiko Clone Two. Kotaru had been pleased with the result of his second attempt, and he started to think that like before he should focus not on the speed of the attack, but on its strength. The clones appeared to be more cautious, but since they weren’t clones that could utilize ninjutsu and had only a few kunai between them, they had no choice but to fight at a closer range. 

The coordinated their attack, Aiko Clone Two coming at him from the front while Aiko Clone One leaped high into the air to attack him from above. Kotaru formed the seals once more. He gathered the chakra throughout his body more quickly than before.

This time when the clones tried to attack him up close, he released the technique, slightly faster than before. The clones were close enough that the slower speed of the katon didn’t matter so much. The clones weren’t able to dodge at all, but the clones still tried scrambling to get out of the way. Finally, they both were caught in the wave and they both dissipated. Kotaru sighed looked up to Aiko for her reaction. She had a slight smile on her face, enough to tell him that she was a tiny bit impressed. The jutsu wasn’t perfect, but he could easily master it by perfecting the timing.

748 words