March 4th?Tobio had a little problem. He wanted to show off Fire Burst, but there was the simple reality that his sensei had not taught him a roughly D-ranked elemental jutsu. That one would be a little awkward to expin, though. In his defense, he was reasonably sure that the jutsu was closer to a form of pure chakra manipution, such as the Rasengan, than a proper hand-sealed jutsu.
He had a wealth of other options for jutsu to pick up too, at least from the D-ranked selection that his sensei had avaible for him. Technically, he was already 3/10ths of the way to completing that existing quest, so he just needed seven more equivalent jutsu to finish it out.
Between the Maniputed Shuriken, Shadow Shuriken, Hell Viewing, and Temporary Paralysis Techniques, they'd all be solid enough to help him with making that progress. Hell, with his existing chakra reserves, he had more leeway than ever to practice, which went a long way toward helping him reach parity with his peers on other teams.
But, there was something niggling at the back of his mind the more he thought about the jutsu he'd learned the month before: The Body Flicker.
Many shinobi had made their own adaptations of the technique itself. It was so straightforward that doing so wasn't all that onerous. But something about the initial creation of smoke, that explosion, kept tugging him back to it.
When combined with the pure chakra manipution of Fire Burst, an idea began to percote inside Tobio—abandoning any conception of stealth, subtlety, or modesty in the original Body Flicker Technique in exchange for pure, unrelenting speed. It would not be the most elegant jutsu in existence, and in fact, he was heavily relying on his Origin to make it work.
But he felt that it might be seriously feasible. Unfortunately, choice paralysis was a real thing, and he found himself gridlocked when it came to his direction. His teammates did not have the same level of indecision as the mixed blood Genin.
After the two of them had spent the month before nailing the basics of the Tree-Climbing Technique, Ami and Hibachi dived headfirst into their own choice jutsu they wanted to focus on.
Like many kunoichi before her, Ami had a slight inclination toward yin chakra. So, she leaned into it, and petitioned Tekuno to learn both of the genjutsu that he knew.
"Are you sure?" The older man asked, his face full of mild worry. "In order for you to properly learn a genjutsu, you usually need to be put under one. Maybe multiple times, until you can get it to click."
"I'm sure," Ami confirmed. "If we're being honest, I don't know if I'll ever be anything but okay at taijutsu. Eventually I'd like to pick up a weapon to correct my deficiency, but for now, having some real trump cards in my arsenal is more valuable."
He sighed, shaking his head slowly. "You're not wrong. It's just…not going to be comfortable."
Tekuno wasn't lying, either. The first few days of her being subjected to Hell Viewing had Tobio and Hibachi's training intermittently interrupted by a shrill, horrified screaming off in the woods. Whatever she was seeing, with the given purpose of those techniques, had to be pretty shitty.
Bit by bit, though, when it was finished, Ami was fully capable of using both of the jutsu. Just her usage of the Temporary Paralysis Technique was usually enough to extremely hamper Hibachi's movements in a spar, whereas against Tobio…
"Why do you have so much chakra?!" She whined, as he smmed his rger against her genjutsu. It was unfair, when he could Kai his way out of just about anything she threw at him in the beginning.
Shrugging sheepishly, he gnced away from her. "Sorry?"
Ami gave him a mulish look, frowning softly. "Don't apologize. It just means you've volunteered to be my training dummy for this technique."
…Not that it ended up hampering him in the end, but it was a good time by all.
Meanwhile, Hibachi took a very different tact from Ami. He had little to no interest in genjutsu at all, and instead picked up the Body Flicker Technique and the Maniputed Shuriken Technique. The first didn't take that long to train, though with the tter, he ended up having to practice with a shuriken on a string until he figured it out.
As the days went by, Hibachi grew more comfortable with the trick, until he was spinning the shuriken like a yo-yo, drawing it back and forth in some simple exercises to get used to maneuvering it around.
But as for Tobio…
Ultimately, the Shadow Shuriken technique wasn't the most fshy, but it was useful. It could be expanded to include most other types of projectiles, such as kunai, senbon, or other esoteric throwing weapons that one might encounter in the field. While it was a little more complex than he'd usually go for, he'd the drive to learn more jutsu if it meant he could complete another quest.
And the face of the first person that fell for it would be priceless.
He ended up having running competitions with Hibachi, where they used blunted shuriken, trying to hit each other in a running battle through the training grounds. Tobio had the advantage of ft out rger chakra reserves, allowing him to be considerably more aggressive with his tactics. Hibachi, on the other hand, was better about using the Maniputed Shuriken Technique in conjunction with the Shadow Shuriken to catch him off guard.
Out of the two of them, his teammate was better at shurikenjutsu, and tended to win more often than not.
The Maniputed Shuriken Technique was much the same as the Shadow Shuriken, in that it was a springboard for better jutsu. In fact, their sensei had been happy to inform them that he knew some of the evolutions and derived jutsu from it, so it was something to keep in mind. Like most of the more finicky techniques that used ninja wire, bringing it out to its fullest potential was a matter of ingenuity and invention than anything else.
Yet the real jutsu that he was the proudest of, was the one he engineered by himself.
If Tobio gave up pretty much any sort of control other than picking a direction, he could turn himself into a rocket. Paired with the right weapon, or just using his body, he could sm into a target much, much faster than any Genin ought to. Or, more accurately, most shinobi.
By no means was it subtle, but then again, neither was his Origin. Now, it was just a matter of testing it out.
"Hey, sensei!" Tobio called, getting Tekuno's attention. "Can you take me to the hospital if this goes wrong?"
"Excuse me?" His sensei excimed, appropriately armed, as one of the children under his remit started to do something incredibly stupid.
Before his sensei, or anyone else, could ask any follow-up questions, he executed his jutsu.
Tiger, to snake, and then ram.
For a singur, breathless second, nothing happened. And then his chakra moved, like never before, as he felt himself stretch out and connect for his existential reason for existing on this pnet. It was a strange sort of feeling, but even stranger when he felt a sort of conceptual approval, before in that next second light bloomed underneath him.
…Perhaps he should have done more research on jutsu creation before he did this.
To call his speed blindingly fast was an understatement. He barely had any idea of where he was going, besides forward, as the explosion underneath him unched Tobio forward. It was terrifying and exhirating in equal measure, right up until he hit the first tree.
And kept going.
"Ohmyfuckingo-"
It was a small tree, which was why his dense, durable body didn't stop there. Instead, it kept going, splinters of wood in his skin as he impacted the second tree. Chunks of the tree went flying, as it managed to retard his speed, and Tobio crumpled to the ground.
Bruised. Blooded. Aching, though miraculously unbroken, for reasons he could only attribute to Calcium keeping his stupidly thick skull from cracking like an egg.
With a wide grin pstered across his face, he y at the foot of the tree. Even with all of the injuries that were scattered across his body, it was definitely worth it. Though personally, Tobio could have done without the harsh, scathing lecture that came from Kanden-sensei as he rushed to his side.
[HIDDEN QUEST COMPLETED: CREATE YOUR FIRST JUTSU!]
[REWARD: 1x MINOR ARTIFICE PERK.]?
Nevermind, the scolding was worth it.
On the bright side? He got out of practice early for that day, and ran home after being patched up to crack open his new perk. To call his avarice for new perks greedy was underselling how excited he tended to get. Each one tended to be an upgrade to his capabilities, one way or another.
Back on his bed, he let that charge inside of his soul spin up once more. It was time to see what he got…
Dancing RevenantDark Souls 3There's something distinctively wrong with the way you're able to move, how you're able to carry yourself. It may, perhaps, be rooted in some vital human quality, but that isn't something to concern yourself with. Your unnatural movements are a product of the world's loosened hold on your form, such that falling or maintaining your bance are less of a concern now. You fall a bit slower, and when jumping you get more hang time. Additionally, as long as at least one foot is firmly on the ground, you may contort, twist, lean and bend in whichever direction or way you wish without concern of falling or tipping over. Enemies will be end up perplexed by your impossible movements when you get used to this.Tier One TalismanEndless LegendA magical neckce that provides bonus depending on the material used.
Iron: Increases the speed the wearer covers ground at roughly double the speed. This does not increase overall agility or reflexes, just how quickly they can chew through distance.Dust: Grants the wearer regeneration. Bruises vanish in hours, not days, broken bones heal in days, not weeks.Titanium: Fortifies the mind and resolve, helping to resist morale shaking effects and mind control.Gssteel: Helps the wearer predict flight paths and improves over all accuracy. Go from a fifty cent piece to a quarter.Choose one.
BeniemiyaFate/Legends - The nd of The Rising SunIt might just be something in the water, both what you're drinking and what you serve to the guests that adore ever meal you make. You're a savant when it comes to making meals, not just limited to Eastern dishes either. With a little experimentation, you can make almost anything into a mouth-watering feast for both the tastebuds and the eyes. The real problem isn't making a good meal but keeping all these greedy pigs from eating you out of house and home. Don't even try making hamburgers around any blonde dies, it never ends well.
Now, while cooking good food is a prize well worth it, you do also have a more useful aspect here. By channeling magical energy into your tools and ingredients as you work, you're able to 'enchant' the meal with a variety of useful effects. A hearty beef stew that lets a warrior heal their wounds much faster than normal, sugary sweets that give people the speed of the wind, a mighty hamburger that temporarily bulges the muscles to greater heights. Even negative effects are possible, if you want to taint your food that way. They only st for a temporary period and the effects tend to be fairly weak without a lot of mana put in but it makes your food all the more popur.
…He squinted at some of these options, but especially the st one. It felt like the system might have been taunting him, after that yummy meal he'd eaten at the Kato residence.
As usual, his selections for the perks were unanimously good. A Tier One Talisman, even as weak as he suspected they might be in comparison to other their upgrades…was still an insane pick. Considering the various powers that they held.
Each of them, even if he only got one, would be worthy of becoming a cn relic. That was how busted they were conceptually, and admittedly, they'd be worth handing to his teammates. Admittedly, it just didn't have legs in the long run, though. Not compared to the other two perks.
Dancing Revenant meanwhile, was something that would affect every aspect of his fighting style moving forward. It wasn't as dramatic a shift as Calcium; he'd be willing to admit that much. But, it wasn't as crazily unique as the st of the bunch.
Tobio missed pizza, chicken alfredo pasta, tequi, french fries, and far more besides. He missed all the delicious meals he used to cook back home, and more besides. Just the raw cooking knowledge might have tipped him over the edge, but the magical benefits of Beniemiya could not be overstated.
It wasn't so much a singur technique, as it was an entirely new way to infuse food with magical energy. Making people fight harder, heal faster, or even more useful for their ends…helping the team train. At least, he thought he might be able to hand them a very, very tiny training multiplier.
With that in mind, he settled down to confirm that choice. Bit by bit, he could feel the hollow inside of himself expand once more, as knowledge trickled into his brain. Most of it being surprisingly mundane in nature.
How to properly slice vegetables, steep tea, and the principles of fermentation of alcohol. Or how to tell the difference between a well-done and medium rare strip steak. It was a wealth of knowledge on just about anything that could tangentially be referred to as cooking. Hell, he even understood how to butcher and break down game, which felt like a freebie across the board.
The more complex portion of the perk came with infusing magical energies into food. That was a process where intent was more important than the actual foods created, guiding the forces involved to highly specific ends. Although the quality and ingredients could definitely result in very different outcomes, depending on what was used in the recipes.
Making something that could help his teammates either have more energy, or compound their training? That was a lot easier to see, depending on how he wanted to handle it. Making alcoholic brew with magical potency was beyond his reach for right now, if only he needed to infuse the given food items with energy during the entire process.
Frustrating, but he wouldn't give up on his supernatural liquor quite yet.
March 13th?Sitting in the clearing of training ground four with their sensei, Ami and Tobio were paying rapt attention to the man. Tekuno had id out a few different pieces of delicate scrollwork but currently had them practicing their calligraphy. It turned out that it did have a value, beyond making kids pull out their hair at the academy.
"The sealing arts are one of the most ancient methods for using chakra," Tekuno lectured, as his eyes carefully tracked their brushstrokes. "In terms of utility, few other disciplines are nearly as venerable amongst shinobi."
Like trapmaking. Hibachi had been turned lose to the woods around them, trapping them to his heart's content, provided none of them were lethal. The training was making their way home through the training grounds at the end of the day, and either getting caught in his traps, or making it through.
It was…an unorthodox way of going about things, but Tobio couldn't find it in himself to criticize the practice. And Hibachi seemed retively happy with the set-up, so what was he going to compin about?
Ranging back to their own practice, Ami had the better calligraphy work, though Tobio was faster at writing overall. Apparently, with sufficient chakra control and skill, someone could just sp down a seal with ink and blood, no brushwork involved. Given that their sensei was not that talented, it was a skill they'd likely have to develop on their own if they wanted to.
"But, with all of that said…it's also a very finicky art," he continued.
"Is that why we're starting with calligraphy?" Tobio asked. It wasn't as if he couldn't understand why. Compared to the other things they'd been doing, though, this was very slow and methodical.
He wasn't the type of guy that needed some action, it was just that…he had a lot more energy than most to burn off.
Ami was the one to answer this question by his side, as she gently made sweeping strokes with her brush. "Even getting the smallest part of a seal wrong can change the function of the fūinjutsu that follows."
Her piercing eyes were locked to the scroll in front of her. There was something oh so mesmerizing about the gentle slopes and twists of her digits, as they effortlessly swept across the surface of the scroll. More than anything else though-
"How are you so good at this already?" Tobio asked, squinting over at the girl.
"Kunoichi csses," Tekuno and Ami answered in unison, gncing at each other in surprise, before she nodded at him.
Nodding back, Tekuno turned toward Tobio. "Kunoichi learn a few arts like flower arrangements, comportment, and calligraphy, which tends to put them ahead of the curve compared to male shinobi in that regard. The fact that more women don't learn fūinjutsu straight out of the academy has always been a mystery to me."
"Because, if we're being honest, the opening stages are easy," the sole girl in the clearing guessed. "But how many shinobi take an interest in learning more than the basics of explosive tags and storage seals?"
Given the grimace that came from their sensei, they didn't need an answer for that. It was evident enough from his response that most shinobi didn't need more than those two. Even in what he remembered watching, while the usages of sealing were pretty vast, it was a technical field in a profession where physical prowess was more valued.
People not prioritizing it as much as the ability to slit throats and dodge jutsu made complete sense. It sucked for the branch as a whole, but it made sense.
"Even storage seal is a bit of a misnomer," Tekuno expined further.
That even had Tobio's eyebrows raising, as he stopped his writing and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "How so?" Did fanfiction lie to him?
"Technically, there's two distinct techniques at py here. The Enclosing Technique is used to stow away objects, though with some modification, you can put jutsu and living things into them as well."
Something about that sounded a little familiar. Wasn't putting jutsu into scrolls a Boruto thing? He'd assumed that was something unique to that incredibly divisive sequel, yet apparently not.
"Why don't tons more shinobi store away jutsu for future use?" Tobio asked, his focus not as turned toward his scroll anymore. Not when he had ideas spinning in the back of his head.
"One, it requires a level of fūinjutsu prowess that most people don't possess. Two, it's usually something that requires a bit of preparation ahead of time to unleash the stored jutsu." Tekuno shrugged. "For that reason, it's not particurly popur as a method."
Huh. Neat.
The lectures continued on, as they learned about the reverse of the Enclosing Technique, the Unsealing Technique. Those two served as the foundational elements for Konoha's entire sealing style, which itself was descended from Uzumaki Mito, wife of the first Hokage. It was, all things considered, a rather informative series of lessons on the fundamentals of the sealing arts.
He wasn't sure if this was for him in the long run, but the basics were still very, very useful to pick up as time went on. Especially when they got to explosive tags.
Tekuno-sensei was a little too excited about teaching them to set up explosive tags.
He was almost like an evangelist, as he espoused the strengths of explosive tags. They didn't fail to explode in the rain, like certain bckpowder weapons. If you set them up correctly, you could explode them in sequence, trick your foes with fake tags, or even attach them to all manner of ranged projectiles.
When used right, they could be the center of someone's entire combat style. Hell, he even began to talk about the unique kinds of explosions that you could shove into them, whether that be paint bombs, smoke bombs, or more besides. There was a dreamy, fond element in his eyes when he spoke about putting them on traps, that reached a reverent level that made Ami and Tobio swap concerned gnces.
It was…worrying, that Tekuno-sensei was that obsessed with them. Then again, Tobio didn't think a jōnin could reach that rank without having a few screws loose. All in all, if their sensei was just a little more obsessed with the virtues of committing unspeakable war crimes with trapping the bodies of his enemy's fallen comrades…
…Well, they just kept their opinions to themselves and kept on scribbling kanji.
By the midpoint of the month, though, the two of them were making pretty solid progress when it came to their calligraphy. At the very least, their sensei procimed them capable enough for the basic seals he wanted to teach them. So, before long Ami and Tobio were capable of the wombo combo of the Enclosing and Release Techniques, along with the creation of Explosive Tags.
"Passable," he commented, looking at the finished products from the two Genin. "They could be better, but for the fundamentals…they'll do."
Altogether, it felt like Tobio's eclectic mix of skills was coming together. He had power in spades. Now it was just a matter of refining all that vast potential into something truly formidable.
