Shifting tides. [P/NK]

"Of course I know how to make clones out of the stuff I'm made of! What kind of Hozuki would I be if I didn't? Well, one that just got out of the ninja academy I guess, but the point is that I do know how to do that!"
Kuro beamed proudly before nodding and focusing. He used water to make his water clone, usually from a snake mouth or Tiger Rain. He could however, just use water directly from his body. Perhaps with his new element he could do the same thing. Forming the handseals for clones just like he would for the water clones, Kuro would begin pouring chakra to his side, building it up on his side. His body started to become watery around the area but he held back on his natural chakra and focused on just using the Senju chakra instead of his watery Hozuki chakra. His side then began to bulge and stretch out, the large bulge turning brown and creaking like a piece of wood being forced to bend and warp, cracking slightly. 

The wooden bulge would continue to stretch out and then down, touching the ground before begining to take form, growing feet and then legs, the wood finally breaking away from Kuro's body as it finally began taking on Kuro's full form... At two feet tall. It was as if someone had wittled out a
wooden Kuro doll. Kuro stared down at his mini clone in silence, the clone not moving at first, but eventually did look back up at Kuro who burst out with laughter and doubled over, the clone copying him and doubling over as well. As Kuro stood back up and calmed himself down enough to catch his breath. He would then start waving his arms and dancing a bit, watching as the wooden Kuro copied his every move. "Kira, Kira, I know I did it wrong but look at this! It's little mini kuro! It's a Kuro doll! And it copies me! This is like the most adorable failure I have ever had!"
Kuro would then start turning to water to see what the clone would do and it did not turn out so well. In an effort to copy it's creator, the mini clone would collapse in on it's self, ending up as a pile of little chunks of wood. Kuro would reform and gasp in distress. "Mini Kuro noooooooooo!"
He would fall to his knees and scoop up the pieces, giving them a little shake. "He was like my son! A little wooden tumor that turned into a little wooden me! And now he's destroyed! And I actually think I might have reabsorbed most of the chakra that I used to make him! That's, a lot better than a water clone would do! And convenient. I'll have to remember that."
(twc-4139)

while the two discussed the effects of wood style and more importantly how to begin the training of jutsu using Kuro's new element, as explained before, Amber was hard at work finishing the last of her own preparations. Closing her eyes she'd speak the words in a whisper, a tendril of black energy flowing from the palm of her hand into the set of weapons. The shift would be nearly immediate, everywhere the black magic touched turning the wood from a clean almost white oak to a deep dark almost glossy white. Within moments the spell would be cast, and her weapons finished. "Another set to add to our aresenal Kira. "

WIth a nod kira took her concentration from the hozuki boy for literally two seconds. Apparently that was all required. When her focus went back to the boy she'd find an odd little something or the other had formed, clearly made of wood still but only two feet tall. Analysis would confirm he'd successfully used wood style to create a clone... Sort of, but the size and effectiveness was quite a bit less then she'd hoped. Even so the boy was roaring with laughter, his excitement at the attempt bringing a smile to the lips of the hell's angel. "Well. I suppose that's something. " She considered if she too should work on a set of the faewild weapons. There was so much she still needed to do. She couldn't remember the last time she'd slept for more then an hour, a truth she wouldn't speak to the two she called allies or the young student before her. She rarely felt like she had time.

"Good. I suppose you can wheel over the spare body on the table in the back then?" It would be clear that while the situation before them was not exactly formal, Kira was taking this situation very seriously. Her eyes suggested intense concentration, which was true. Deep within the girl's mind she thought through several things, What potential and dangers would come to this boy, what she too could gain, how to more efficiently craft items and weaponry, and what new techniques could be added to her arsenal. She'd heard word of a technique used by her clan long before she was even born. She understood the basics of the effect, but could she replicate them? She was certain she could, but only time could tell.

Amber nodded, sliding off her stool to cross the large medical bay slowly. She found just behind the three tiered table that housed the bodies of wind and fire, earth and lightning, and the singular scorch body. WIth a soft click the wheels were unlocked allowing it to glide across the hard wood floors towards where the trio had set up. "I would advise doing this portion later. Any techniques he can figure out are power that we can draw at the same time. "

Kira ignored her. Of course she knew to wait to take the element from kuro until after he'd gotten at least one jutsu under her belt. She wasn't an idiot. Still with the slight annoyance brought out by Amber's assumption, her lack of concentration, and lack of sleep, she found neccessity in not lashing at the hozuki boy. With this in mind her features lightened as she once more addressed him. "Excelent... Sort of. Now see if you can make it full sized and combat ready hm?"

(4511)

Kuro smiled and shrugged as he dropped the small pieces of wood to the ground. Looked like he needed to try again. As he prepared himself to do the jutsu again however, he found his mind wandering a bit. He'd mostly ignored it up until this point but... what was Kira and her demon friend Amber doing with all those bodies? Where did they come from? Why did she have them? For that matter, where exactly did this kidney come from? He wasn't coming up with these questions because he was starting to think Kira was suspicious, no. While she did act mysterious and seemed to keep her true plans and intentions to herself, he trusted her. That was just her way of keeping him safe. The reason he began coming up with these questions was that it was really hard to ignore a bunch of mystery bodies as long as he had so far. His curiosity was just finally starting to get the best of him and ruining his focus. Were they spies that Kira had caught trying to steal her secrets? Could they be local criminals that she had apprehended and was planning on turning into the authorities? Or could they actually be the ones she said she'd killed while escaping from Youka back at the village? No, most of those seemed a bit far-fetched, even for Kira. Perhaps there was a much simpler explanation he just hadn't thought of. Thinking about WHY she had the bodies, or more precisely what she was planning on doing with them was a much more interesting question to ponder. Perhaps they each had a power like the Senju kidney that had been implanted into him? Could she be planning to put more of thier body parts into other members of the Koukan? That seemed plausible. 

Well, whatever her motives for acquiring and messing with the bodies, one thing stood out to Kuro. Even though she smiled at him after his little failure with the mini puppet Kuro, something still felt... unhappy about her. Especially when Amber spoke. It seemed to stress her out. Not that he blamed her, the demon seemed to just have a rather grating attitude, just the kind of person who would act like a nagging mother to anyone and everyone that they could. How long had Kira been hanging around this demon? How much time away from it could she get? What other one hundred and one plans was Kira trying to accomplish while watching him attempt to learn one simple wood technique? Her face lightened up again as she asked him to try and make a real clone this time, but Kuro couldn't help feeling like something was wrong now. The bodies, the weapons, the demon, being the head of the nara clan, basically being the head of the Koukan, there were so many things Kira had to think about and deal with, trying to make all of them come together and work as part of some master plan to... do what? Defeat Youka? That was the only reason Kuro knew of that she needed all this power for. Realizing just how much stress must be put on her, Kuro couldn't help worrying about her health. She was his leader and friend, and that meant it was his job to make sure she was okay. At least, that's what he felt his job was. "Yeah, I'll give it another shot... but you know, now that it's just me and you again finally, not counting your medical partner over there, and you aren't in a, 'torture Kuro by making him think he'd completely lost his mind in the jungle' kind of mood, I kinda want to ask you something. I know you've probably got all kinds of big dangerous plans that you haven't told me about just so I wouldn't be in danger because I was too weak, and I don't need to know about those because, well, I trust your judgement on that. So, it's nothing about that, but I still think it's pretty important... when was the last time you relaxed? I mean, ever since we left Yuki it's seemed like you and Kiru were constantly working on something, even if it was just training me or playing diplomat so that we could go into Konoha. And, I know I don't really work on a whole lot, so I know I relax plenty but... How about you? When was the last time you just, laid down and let your cares go for a little bit? You don't have to say if you don't want to, but don't try to lie to make me feel better because I will be able to tell, I am the best at seeing through white lies."

Kuro looked to Kira with his emotions plain on his face, concern and care. As well as the fact that he was clearly bluffing about being able to tell if she was lying, his expression and tone of voice giving that away to anyone smarter than a twelve year old. As excited as he was to be learning a new element and technique and getting permission to learn shadow techniques, Kira's well being took precedent over all of that.
(twc-5014)

"Oh. well....." Shit. Shit shit shit shit. Somehow the boy had picked up on something she'd really wished he hadn't. She'd been so careful to hide the subtle suggestions that's she'd chosen working over sleep, well.... if u didn't take into account the large black bags under her eyes or disheveled look of her hair. Alright so maybe she hadn't been that good at hiding it. Still there was far too much to do.

"I took a breather and relaxed um..."

"Eleven days ago. She was forced to take a day off eleven days ago to be exact. Information gathered on the situation confirmed she took the mandatory relaxation day when she was told specifically not to do any training, work for koukan, or work for her clan to train a genin, boosting knowledge of the nara clan through work with a ninja directly as the head of a major clan, boosting knowledge of koukan trhough the same means, and spending the better part of the day fighting and training jutsu. If I recall you also haven't slept in eight days. " It took less then a minute for Amber to rat her out, giving a detailed explanation of what she'd done and how incredibly not relaxing her mandatory relaxation day was.

"..... Thank you Amber." She shot the girl a glare of sharpened steel, taking a long breath before continuing. " I've been a bit buisy to be fair. Between Koukan, looking after the village, and the work with my clan theres too much to do. I was the only one qualified to take over the responsibilities of the Nara clan with the death of the head, and the counsel is not really making things better. I'll rest when everything is over I assure you. "

"No. NO you wont. You're going to pass out one of these days. "

(4817)

Kuro shook his head as Amber explained just how hard Kira had been working the past few weeks or so. She had so much work to be done, but that was no excuse for not sleeping in over eight days. Wait, EIGHT DAYS!? Kuro snapped to attention as he realized what that implied. "Kira! You did surgery on my when you haven't slept in eight days!? That REALLY seems like something you should be rested for! I mean, I trust you to not pass out in the middle of something like that and everything, but sleep deprivation can cause like, hallucinations and stuff! That's kinda dangerous!"
Taking a deep breath, Kuro calmed himself down before continuing, waving a hand a bit to dismiss what he said, not wanting her to worry about it. "Anyways, that's not the point. The point is that, while you would probably be okay only taking a day off like once a month, you haven't been sleeping! Sleeping is super important! Even if you're body is super powered so that it doesn't need to rest, your mind still needs a break every now and then! You can't just run yourself ragged until you collapse. That's really dangerous. It's dangerous and unnecessary. I know you've got about a million different things you need to get done, but you've gotta take care of yourself too. And just saying you'll rest when you're done doesn't cut it, no one knows how long it'll take to finish and once it is finished you'll just find more work to do."
As much as he hated trying to lecture his great mentor, Kuro needed to stop her from positively destroying herself. She had so much work to do, so many people to train. Wait, people to train. One of her goals was to train him, particularly with his new wood element. This realization gave him a new idea on how to convince her to rest. "Now, I'd love it if you took the rest of the day off and just had some fun. Go to a spa or a hot spring. Eat at a nice restaurant. Go find someone you like and go on a date. Eat some cake. Read a book that's fiction. That kinda stuff. I think you deserve to do that kind of thing and have some fun. But, since I know you love working so much and you'll just worry about the work you're not getting done, I'm okay if you don't do those things, I understand. So I only have one demand to make. You know I'll do basically anything you ask of me, so I just want you to do this one thing for me. Get some sleep. And just to put a little more pressure on you and make sure you know that there's still work being done while you're sleeping, I hereby refuse to do anymore training until you at least take a nap. Until you go to sleep, no Senju training is gonna get done! No more wooden Kuros. By not sleeping, you will be hindering progress on me learning any techniques, Senju or shadow! So... take a nap please? I really wanna figure this stuff out, but I want you to sleep more."
Kuro would fold his arms across his chest, partly to show that he meant what he had said, and partly to help him resist the urge to try and practice hand seals behind his back or something. He took a deep breath and braced himself, ready to stare Kira down until she gave in.

(twc-5609)

The pulse in Kira's chakra as the boy before her suggested an ultimatum on their training. Kira's eyes instinctively began to spin, blue shifting to red before she was stopped by Amber. "Now now. Let us not jump to unfortunate conclusions...... Kuro, I can assure you she will sleep but let us not upset her, even if you have good intensions. " Kira's lips pursed together, distress clearly evident on her face. WIthin her mind the dark whispers of the Omega reached her too easily.

"Kira. Keep yourself calm. This is not a place that is acceptable for the Omega to run free..."

"I'm fine. I'll be fine. Kuro. I understand your worry but I need to continue what I'm doing in order to keep Koukan safe. It is equally important that you not place ultamatums on me. " her breath came in heavy pulses, her tone waivering slightly as she spoke.

(4967)

Kuro felt a shiver go down his spine as Kira's eyes changed color, starting to break into a cold sweat until Amber calmed her down. Fear gripped his chest as he realized he'd upset Kira. Hearing Amber and Kira both tell him that trying what he'd just attempted was a very poor idea, Kuro couldn't help laughing, his voice shaking slightly. "Aw man... that didn't work at all. Aheheheh. Man. I forget how scary you can get. Aheheh... wow... been so long since I was scared like that I can't stop laughing!"
Kuro smiled and laughed his fear away, wiping some sweat from his brow. His heart was pounding, adrenaline running through his veins as his fear activated a fight or flight response. His body shook a bit from the rush of energy. "Well, I guess it was a long shot that you'd fall for that anyways. Can't blame me for trying though! Or, I guess you can. But that would hurt my feelings. I'll trust you to sleep soon enough. Anyways, back to wood clone I suppose."

Kuro took a deep breath and did the hand seals once more, this time putting more focus and effort into the jutsu. This time the clone began growing out of his chest, a large circle on his chest turning brown and stretching forward as it began taking shape, rapidly growing into a humanoid shape at first, a blank slate like a mannequin. It then began morphing to more accurately match his body shape, growing to his exact height and general shape, even growing a wooden version of his clothes. Once it had grown into his general silhouette, it then began morphing to reflect his details, it's blank face growing his features, his eyes, nose and mouth, taking a complete resemblance to Kuro, minus the correct colors. The wooden sort of cord disconnecting from Kuro and being absorbed into the clone. Once the clone was completely separated from him, it would take a step forward before turning around to face Kuro. "All right! Full size Kuro doll! That's more like it! What do you think Kira, looks a lot more useful than that tiny one." 

Kuro would then give the wooden doll a tap on the head with a smile, it seemed sturdy and tough and made a satisfying knocking sound when he did so. He would then take a step back again and focus on what he wanted the clone to do. The wooden Kuro would then begin to dance around while Kuro watched. "It can totally move around without just mirroring me either! Last thing to try, let's see if he can do a jutsu!"
Kuro looked to his clone and nodded, the clone returning the nod and performing the hand seals for Snake Mouth, the clone opening it's and launching a torrent of water from it's mouth. The torrent when then start to circle around as Kuro realized that using such a large wet jutsu inside of a closed space was a very very poor decision. The Snake mouth would begin going up and up as he panicked and tried to figure out where the hell he was going to put all this water. "Crap crap crap I didn't think this through, I should have tried something smaller, crap!"
Looking around Kuro would simply point away from where Kira and Amber where working, the clone redirecting the jutsu so that it splashed down the hall, creating some minor flooding. "...I am so sorry."
(twc-6192)

The threat seemed to be over. Still Amber could feel the draw of the darkness she'd spent years dealing with whispering into the girl's ear, but for now she dodged it. "It wasn't a fantastic bluff.... Given the situation. " Kira's statement was calm but make it clear there was an issue they'd not yet spoken of that could have caused significant problems. It wasn't that he didn't deserve to know of course. It was simply important not to push the dark power of the omega even farther. "We need to get this done quickly. It's important that we continue to gain strength quickly. Every day spent duing unneeded actions like sleeping or rest is a day that the demon priest strengthens the edge he has over us. Giving him the edge means death, and that's not something I'm willing to accept. Not again. "

"Now now. He knows the importance of what's going on. No need to be cruel Kira. Keep your tone calm and kind." Amber closed her eyes, drawing chakra as she prepared to cast a technique of terrifying power. She knew the method behind of course. It was hers to teach and hers to learn. "Kira. It has been some time.... While Kiru works on unlocking the power of Mokuton, i'll need your assitance working with the strength of shadow. Show me once more the technique of legend... The danse macabre." It felt strange to the girl to ask assistance in a jutsu she'd made, even if it had been years since she'd had a reason to use it. Within this world her body had little to no knowledge of the terrifying power Kira had unknowingly unlocked. It was hers to know and learn.

"Of course... But I fear I'll have dificulty keeping the technique up. Without blood to sate the danse it will end once more. I'll need assistance in learning a way to keep up the strength of the dance. " Amber anticipated the comment. She knew the weakness of the technique, and exactly how to solve it. It was of course her technique.

"I can assist with that. Draw the chakra and allow me to assist with the rest. WE'll do this together. " It would seem as if the two weren't paying attention to Kuro, even as Kira's eyes shifted back and forth between her team mate and the young boy. He was buisy taking care of important jutsus he needed to learn, and the trinity would do the same.

~Selene. You're needed. I'll be summoning you shortly. ~ Amber formed the single seal for the summoning jutsu as kira's hands shifting through several more, drawing the strength needed to activate this technique of terrifying power. In a puff of smoke the final member of the trinity appeared directly beside them, waving to Kuro before turning her attention to the pair.

(5441)

Kuro would wave back to the third person who had appeared then sighed in relief. Kira seemed to not really be paying attention to the mess that he'd made, so maybe she wouldn't be upset. He turned to his clone and gave a thumbs up, the clone nodding and stepping into the water that it had created. "Well... okay, looks like we'll be okay. Anyways, let's just focus on testing you out more. Next thing to check would have to be... durability. Water clones don't last very long in a fight, but let's see what it takes to bring down a wood clone."
Kuro would think for a moment before performing the handseals for creating water needles, swinging his hand in a vertical arc and summoning up seven sharp needles from the water. the needles would hold a moment in suspension in the air before launching forward and impaling into the wooden clone's chest with several solid thunking sounds, burying themselves into the wood and causing the clone to stumble backwards, but remained standing. The clone looked down at the needles sticking out of itself then gave a thumbs up. Kuro then pulled his shield out of his body and threw it at the clone, the shield flying like a razor disc and slicing off the clones legs at the knee. The clone fell onto it's back then flipped over onto it's front and crawling back to Kuro. Kuro held up a hand and his shield burst into a mist and flew back to his hand, reforming in his hold. "Huh. Looks like wood clones can take small hits and lose limbs and still be fine. What about the head?"

Kuro would then bring his shield down, it's razor sharp edge cleaving the clone's head in two. As soon as the head had been broken in half, all of the chakra contained within the clone rushed out of the wooden puppet and surged back into Kuro. The clone went limp and clunked to the floor as it became nothing more than some lifeless wood in the shape of a person. Kuro would then breathe a sigh of relief and chuckled to himself. "Okay good, that would have been really creepy if it was able to keep walking around with it's head broken in two. So, limbs don't matter, head is important, and the chest can sustain some minor damage before the clone goes down... all right! This is pretty awesome! I'm gonna have to use it a lot more."
Looking back at the trio, Kuro would assume they were still busy and decided that he should just keep practicing until they were done with... whatever it was they were doing. He took a deep breath and gathered up his chakra as well as the chakra that had been recycled back into him by the clone's destruction and focused on creating multiple clones. His shoulders turning brown and stretching as two more clones begin to grow from his shoulders. The two masses stretched out as the first one did, the wood solidifying and hardening. The two wooden blobs slowly growing into humanoid forms once again. The wooden figures rising into a standing position as they finished fleshing themselves out. The connections between the clones and Kuro snapped off of the Hozuki and were absorbed into the clones. Once they had fully formed and absorbed their connections and a large amount of chakra from Kuro, the clones stepped forward and turned around back towards their creator, each of them smiling and giving a thumbs up. Seeing his wooden counterparts, Kuro couldn't help thinking about tricks he could use them for. "Wonder if I could somehow paint them to look just like me... I probably don't have the skills to pull that off though. Would take a real artist. I'm kind of a messy artist. Not very good at it."
Kuro patted his clones and stepped back, deciding to entertain himself with his clones. The two wooden Kuros rushed at each other and began punching and kicking at each other, blocking and countering each other. Each time they hit, a solid clack of two hunks of wood smashing into each other would echo slightly in the castle. After having the clones fight for a bit, Kuro would tap his foot and call them back to his sides and climbed up onto their shoulders, forming a three man pyramid. He then used his new vantage point to try and get a better look over at what Kira was doing.
(twc-6947)

"What can I do fo..... Miss. Why did the young hozuki just cut a clones head in half? Is this some intense medical training....." In true selene fashion she'd showed up in perfect timing, appearing seemingly from nothing just as Kuro used his suiton shield to terribly and quite brutally murder a poor innocent clone. The sense of ressonant calm in her voice made both the demon of chance and hells angel laugh.

"Wh.... Kiru. No killing ninjutsu constructs. What are you eve..... Never mind. Alright. Selene. Theres a jutsu that we'll be working on if you're up for it." The cloak of black was flowing quickly across Amber's body, her already dark clothes disappearing behind a sheet of pure chakra. Amber followed suit, forming the hand seals half from memory and half from the attention placed on Kira's form. She felt the chakra within her begin to stir, and manipulated it to her will. The intricacy required to pull off the jutsu surprised her. It'd been so long since she'd looked back on the subtlety of shadow manipulation, and the dificulty required to perform this work of art was far past what they could have attempted to understand a year prior.

"I see. I didn't think you'd even remembered creating THAT jutsu miss. If you require I suppose I can train this body to use it's effects. " Selene closed her eyes, bringing her hands together slowly to form the seals required for the Danse Macabre. She knew the methodology behind it too easily, requiring little assistance from the hells angel to actually begin the process of manipulating her chakra, but having a visual lesson would be important later.

"Very good. Once you two are read I'll allow the true cloak to form. This technique is quite intricate and fairly confusing, so stop me if i've gone too fast. Kuro, How are you looking on wood style shadow clone? Have you nearly mastered it?" The trio turned for a moment to see the clones created. They weren't perfect but it was clear he was on the cusp of mastery of this technique. It wouldn't be long now.

"You may begin the formation at your leisure Kira. We have had sufficient practice with the technique before, though it has been some number of years and our bodies mastery has been lost to the aether. Let me see how you've adopted my technique." A black cloak similar to kira's formed across the center of both Selene and amber, flowing across their bodies like a sheet raised across the form of a cadaver. Chakra enhanced shadow flowed up their armored stomachs, encasing black seemingly metal plate in it's smooth embrace, to curve across her body, spiraling around until it covered up to their neck. Due to the twin daggers set within Amber's armor, slid safely between the chest plate and vine like chain mail that seemed too close to metal not to be, a soft hum of cello began. The beautiful music came in slow gentle strokes, almost as if a single player was warming up for recital.

(5956)