The Training Grounds again eh? (IO)

It was going to be hard to train with only one functioning arm, but it was going to take a few days for his busted arm to heal properly. Not that Kotetsu was going to complain. The rewards related to his injury were well worth the pain he had endured. He would have changed nothing that had happened so far to get him to where he was. The newly promoted Jounin swapped out his Chuunin flak jacket for his new Jounin one, not that it really looked much different. Otherwise, his outfit had remained primarily the same, with the exception that his clothing would have manipulated into a sling around his splinted and recently-healed arm. The first thing he had done after his test with Valen. Immediately after that he had gone to go visit Sanae and tell her the news. After his visit with her, he made his way over to the training grounds to work on keeping his body in top physical shape. On top of that, he wanted to find out if there were ways to improve his current repertoire of jutsu, along with testing out some ideas that he had.

The walk to the training ground was a familiar one. It was a beautiful day. It wasn’t as warm as it normally was, which was nice for the Yuki male. He always preferred the cold, but you wouldn’t always get what you wanted. ‘That’s something I should look into…’ Kotetsu thought to himself as he walked. ‘I wonder if I could create my own little world where there was Ice and snow. A little winter paradise in this desert…’ It wasn’t an impossible task. He had been to another dimension. Completely accidental of course, but with the right training, it would make sense that he would be able to create his own. It was just a matter of figuring it out. There was a few other ideas he had that he wanted to work on, but one stood out the most. He needed to work on a better jutsu that improved his speed and chakra’s potency. And he needed on that wouldn’t require overt movements. The restrictions that his Wind Rejuvenation technique required had severely hampered Kotetsu during his engagement with Valen. ‘I need to fix that immediately…’ The young Yuki thought to himself. And he had a good idea of how.

Upon arriving at the training ground, Kotetsu would start off by doing some calisthenics in order to limber up. He would then start working on his new jutsu. The premise was to combine his ability to form weapons made of ice, with his Wind Rejuvenation jutsu. But instead of using wind chakra, he would solely be using ice chakra. He also wanted to figure out how to be able to do it without using any form of gesture or hand sign, so to the casual observer, it essentially looked like Kotetsu was just standing there doing nothing. It was likely to be a long day.

WC: 501

"Ah this really bites...I miss my arm already," the males voice exclaimed as he scratched at where his arm would have been. The newly chuunin in the village had only been...exploring some new options when it came to jutsu when he got too ambitious and blew his arm off. At least that was the only thing that had gotten blown off of him luckily. The jutsu of course sort of worked in the sense that it had the desired effect but not the desired result which ended with him like previously stated...without his arm. Sure he could have popped it back on and let it heal fully except his arm was completely gone and it was not coming back. At that point he went around looking for a replacement which someone was more than happy to make the ninja an arm worthy of his...talents. Of course it would cost a pretty penny so he had been doing odd jobs to come up with the scratch in the meantime.

The male strolled into the training grounds as the wind blew through his hoodie, the empty sleeve blowing with the wind as he sighed and looked around. For a moment he didn't know exactly what to do so he began to jump up and down a bit to get a feel for his weight since it would be definitely off given the missing limb. It was...an interesting experience to feel how things were when something had been missing, but then again...when you had gotten used to it what was it going to be? After getting used to it, he slowly began to throw a few kicks using his "good" side as balance, more so shifting his weight with every kick he got slowly closer to knowing his body in its entirety. He got so into this new training that he wouldn't haven even noticed if someone had been watching him or not.

He had made a breakthrough, finally. He was more in tune with his Ice chakra nature than he’d ever been before. The synchronicity was such that it was almost as if his body was made of the ice that he was creating. He finally knew what he needed to do to make it work. The best part about it was that because it was second nature to him, he needed no handsigns to pull it off. The bracers that formed on his arms were a tad bulkier than the bracers he normally wore, but they were essentially an icy blueprint for an idea he currently had formed in his mind. The next thing that formed were the blades. They slowly built up, almost appearing to grow out of the front of the bracers. They started off being 6 inches wide where they connected to the bracer, coming to a point roughly 3 feet out from the bracer. Almost immediately after the blades were completed, Kotetsu sensed more than saw the shields form on top of the bracers. While the blades themselves were tinted blue in colour, the shields themselves were completely transparent, almost undetectable to normal sight unless you knew what you were looking for. Or if you were Kotetsu, who noticed them forming thanks to his passive sensory abilities. ‘This will definitely make me more effective in combat…’ He thought to himself as he practiced with his new weapons. They were light. Kotetsu barely noticed that they were even attached to his arms while he went through the motions. It was going to be a different style of fighting than he was used to, but it would be well worth learning how to use his new tools now rather than in the heat of battle. This particular combination will work best in close combat, which Kotetsu has no issue engaging in. Lots of stabbing and slashing. Using the shields to block as often as he would potentially use the blades. The shields gave him some extra protection while not hampering his blades from doing their job.

A couple of other individuals had arrived at the training ground since he had shown up. Kotetsu had recognized a couple, simply on sight on account of him either patrolling the village, or simply going about his day and seeing them in passing. One person that entered the training grounds though had caught Kotetsu’s attention. It was Red, he’d gone on a mission with him and Sanae a while back, before Kotetsu had become a Jounin. He looked a little different. One of his sleeves was flapping, like it had nothing in it. ‘Arm gone or simply in a sling under the shirt…’ Kotetsu thought to himself as he brought forth the second part of his new technique. His weapons and shields faded away, to be replaced by a pair of wings that had been formed around his shoulder blades. Each wing looked like half of a snowflake. They were 5 feet in length, and each wing was 2.5 feet wide, he’d never flown before, but having a third dimension from which to reliably attack from would be useful indeed. Not as fast as Kotetsu could travel on the ground, but that was fine. ‘Perhaps I can improve these later…’ He thought to himself as he slowly rose into the air and flew over to where Red was training. It seemed that he was working on some taijutsu, throwing kicks primarily. Kotetsu would land a few meters away so as not to interfere. The landing was a little rough since it was his first time. One of his pouches opened up as a result and his blacksmith’s hammer fell onto the ground. Kotetsu bent down to pick it up and nodded to Red. “Hey Red, long time no see. How are things?” It wasn’t the greatest of speeches, but he hadn’t really seen the other shinobi in some time, so there wasn’t really anything else to lead off with.

WC: 666
TWC: 1167

The male continued with his routine, jumping up and down as he did a few kicks. He stumbled only slightly at certain points but once he had found his rhythm nothing was stopping him. The landing of nearby person had however as his right leg lifted up vertically when he assumed the prone version of an ax kick. His body had been perfectly straight with his leg being up giving his body that perfect L shape. His eyes sat forward until his head had turned to see just who it had been that had landed so close to the area he had been in. Not knowing exactly what to do at this point he looked at the person keeping the same posture and smiled," Oh if it isn't you...Kotetsu was it? I haven't seen you since...that mission wasn't it?," the male had ended up scratching his head with the same foot that had been in the air just moments prior. Either he had some form of flexibility or something had been broken.

The sight of the hammer caused the male to raise a brow curiously as he continued to scratch his head with his foot and slowly sat it down to respond to the male," You know...Just hanging. So what's with the hammer? You trying to hammer out some holes in the village walls or are you building things now?," his foot pointed at the hammer in place of his what would be right hand...he had been suddenly getting used to not having an arm after only a few weeks. At either rate he crouched down and looked at the male a little more getting a good look at him from a more...mental aspect. Something that had been bothering him was that he heard of the male fighting in the Chuunin Tournament but nothing on his match so he was itching to hear about that as well," So I heard you were in that tournament that was held not too long ago. How did that fare?," as if on cue the male tapped his head a few times causing something...to fall out of his ear. As if on cue the object grew to be its normal length, his most trusty and lovely weapon Yeoui.

Mo-ri leaned onto the staff and this time scratched at his head with his left hand with a smile," As you can see...I'm sort of down a limb due to blowing it off trying to get something to work and let me tell you. Having something both explode and cauterize your body is an entirely new experience. I wouldn't advise it if you couldn't survive it," he'd explain to the male if he had asked about his arm...and even if he didn't he knew now. Reaching into his back pouch he slowly pulled out what looked like a few scrolls and sat them onto the ground, rolling one out with his foot and kneeling a second. He was looking at the overall blueprint you could call it of his new right arm, the one that would have costed him a fortune.

[515]

Red turned his head towards Kotetsu while maintaining the position he was in on the ground. He had smiled before saying "Oh if it isn't you...Kotetsu was it? I haven't seen you since...that mission wasn't it?" after which he immediately scratched his head with one foot, eliciting a chuckle from the Yuki Jounin. "Indeed it has been that long. Funny how time flies." He said, returning Red's smile with one of his own. Red had also raised his eyebrow, presumably in regards to the hammer since he followed up the eyebrow raise with "You know...Just hanging. So what's with the hammer? You trying to hammer out some holes in the village walls or are you building things now?"

Kotetsu smiled at Red, "I've been learning about metalsmithing for some time now, and I've opened up a forge where I can actually ply my craft. I will be making all manner of things, weapons and armor primarily, since I will be using those the most."

It would also seem that Red had not heard about what happened during his fight in the tournament against Damon, as Red asked "So I heard you were in that tournament that was held not too long ago. How did that fare?" Kotetsu remained silent for a moment before speaking. By the time Kotetsu had started speaking, Red had tapped something out of his ear, growing into a quarterstaff of some sort. "I was disqualified in the second round, killed my opponent's summoned wolf." He would tell the other shinobi. "How about you?" He would ask "Did you enter the tournament?"

Red then leaned on the staff and said "As you can see...I'm sort of down a limb due to blowing it off trying to get something to work and let me tell you. Having something both explode and cauterize your body is an entirely new experience. I wouldn't advise it if you couldn't survive it." 'No indeed...' Kotetsu thought with a shudder. "I definitely wouldn't want to experience that in the slightest. I'll be sure to steer clear of explosions." he said to Red with a smirk. Red then reached behind him and pulled some scrolls out of his back pouch and rolled them out on the ground. Ever curious, Kotetsu leaned in to take a look at what was on them. It appeared to be blueprints of some kind, a replacement arm. "Ah, so this would essentially replace the arm you lost." He said, half to himself before looking at Red. "This design would allow you the same functionality as your previous arm? Or at least, almost the same?" Kotetsu was indeed curious about the idea, especially since it was something that he could quite possibly assist with building, what with him being a metalsmith and all.

WC: 467
TWC: 1634

So the male had found himself some useful skills since their last meeting, an action that caused the male to smile and nod," I see. You have been quite the busy shinobi since our last meeting...then again I have as well," on the note of hearing his...unfortunate loss in the tournament he would pry further," If I remember correctly summons can de-summon themselves at will in order to prevent dying...so why exactly did this one die to you? Did it just stay around or...is there a part of the story I am missing here," if the male had not answered him he would shrug and go back to scratch his head. As a matter of fact the male had looked at the hand he still had and bit his finger slamming the hand onto the ground in a plume of smoke. The male had known the summoning technique he had never actually summoned Ichxel which...was his only summon. In the smoke it had been empty.

If Koutetsu had been paying attention he would see a smallish spider on the males head, sitting there rather contently and shrilling," Yes my master? What hath thou called me for...your arm is missing...mother will not be pleased," to which the male had waved his hand dismissively and smiled," Just in the pursuit of power my friend. It was no one's fault but my own but...that will be another story for now," almost forgetting the males initial question he smiled and nodded, pointing to a brand new head band that he had gotten after the event," Yes. I had...won the entire thing from beginning to end, but it allowed me to formally join the village as a Chuunin for now. So...it went well on my end I guess," the male had shrugged while the spider sat idly.

For a moment he smiled and nodded as Koutetsu had simply understood the doodles and diagrams before he had spoke on it," We..Well you actually got it right on the nose except this will function better than my old arm. A kinetic dampener made especially for close range fighting, a nifty little feature for stopping some small scale ninjutsu and a very special surprise made here. As you can see its rather...special in its own right," the male would continue to explain until he had been finished, the spider listening intently for whatever the two of them to become relevant to itself.

Red would smile and nod in response to Kotetsu’s comments. "I see. You have been quite the busy shinobi since our last meeting...then again I have as well. If I remember correctly summons can de-summon themselves at will in order to prevent dying...so why exactly did this one die to you? Did it just stay around or...is there a part of the story I am missing here?" Kotetsu would shrug at the question before answering. “You’d have thought so, but apparently getting speared through the throat, in addition to several vital organs, would be the point where a summoned ally wouldn’t be able to escape before dying.” Kotetsu said it clinically, left emotion out of it. He felt bad at the time, but accidents happen in battle.

As he talked, Red would bite his hand and slam it against the ground, creating a plume of smoke. It didn’t take long for Kotetsu to see Red’s passenger once the smoke had cleared. It spoke in a shrill voice. "Yes my master? What hath thou called me for...your arm is missing...mother will not be pleased." Red waved his had dismissively and smiled, likely at the spider’s comment. ‘It would seem that everyone has a companion of sorts…’ Kotetsu thought to himself. ‘Perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to do the same…’ Red had replied to the spider at that point. "Just in the pursuit of power my friend. It was no one's fault but my own but...that will be another story for now" Red then returned his attention to Kotetsu and responded to his question about his efforts in the tournament, gesturing to his headband at the same time; “Yes. I had...won the entire thing from beginning to end, but it allowed me to formally join the village as a Chuunin for now. So...it went well on my end I guess,"

As the discussion turned to the blueprints on the ground, Red almost seemed taken aback by his quick study of the diagrams. “We..Well you actually got it right on the nose except this will function better than my old arm. A kinetic dampener made especially for close range fighting, a nifty little feature for stopping some small scale ninjutsu and a very special surprise made here. As you can see its rather...special in its own right," ‘It certainly is an impressive bit of machinery…’ Kotetsu thought to himself as he studied the designs further. “I’m guessing you’re thinking of a special alloy in order to conduct your chakra into the arm in order to be able to use those built-in features, right? Assuming you can infuse your chakra into the arm. Being a weapon user from what I’ve seen, I would expect nothing less…” It was definitely the kind of project that Kotetsu wanted to work on, a chance to ply his craft. He voiced this to Red. “Do you have someone currently to construct this for you, or were you planning to assemble it yourself?”

WC: 496
TWC: 2130

"Well that is...stupid. Whoever was the pact holder should probably never be allowed to have a bond with a summon again. Anyways...that's a different subject for another time eh? Anyways this little one on my head would be Ixchel, my summon partner and current scroll holder. He may "appear" small, but this little one is far from it. I think he just hides his true form from me," the male looked up at the spider with a smile as it gave back its own...weird look.


As the two continued to talk about his arm he smiled seeing as the jounin had understood things a little too well. "Well yeah. Its going to be made with a nice unique metal from the land of Iron, you know how the samurai there have unique swords that allow them to properly conduct chakra? Yeah the arm itself is going to have that as a base with an additional metal in it. That way chakra can flow properly through it when it absorbs or releases it...or you know i might lose an arm...AGAIN," there was only a small chuckle from him as he drabbed on and on about the initial design. A question caused him to stop for a moment and almost stare at the other male for a moment, as if he had offended him with his question. A simple wave with his sleeve would begin his sarcastic retort almost immediately," You know I've always wanted to craft an arm with one had and two feet. Leaves room for A LOT of error doesn't it?," a brow had only been raised as he looked at the male in silence.

After a moment or two he would burst out in laughter as he smiled and shook his head," I have most of the materials and the necessary parts to attach it onto my arm, but i cannot build it when I am down an arm. Y'know how things usually require two hands to do that right? Besides even with all of this the smith i was GOING to get to make up and quit so I guess i got no one to do it now," there was an opportunity to actually take up the construction of his arm, but he simply looked down...up? Over to the male before only smirking.


"Unless you were going to take up the job and do it?"

It would seem that Red shared Kotetsu’s feelings about his recent clash in the tournament. "Well that is...stupid. Whoever was the pact holder should probably never be allowed to have a bond with a summon again. Anyways...that's a different subject for another time eh? Anyways this little one on my head would be Ixchel, my summon partner and current scroll holder. He may "appear" small, but this little one is far from it. I think he just hides his true form from me," Kotetsu nodded as the younger shinobi looked up at his companion and smiled. “A very interesting theory.” Kotetsu would say. “I do not have a contract of my own, and while I do not doubt they would be useful allies, it is not something I had considered pursuing yet.” As he said the words, Kotetsu almost winced, as it could be interpreted that he was fishing to sign the contract. He hoped Red wouldn’t see it as such.

In response to Kotetsu’s mechanical musings, Red would smile and reply in kind. "Well yeah. Its going to be made with a nice unique metal from the land of Iron, you know how the samurai there have unique swords that allow them to properly conduct chakra? Yeah the arm itself is going to have that as a base with an additional metal in it. That way chakra can flow properly through it when it absorbs or releases it...or you know I might lose an arm...AGAIN," Kotetsu would laugh out loud at that last statement. “At least with losing this arm, it would theoretically be easier to replace.” He said with a chuckle. “That’s not a bad idea… the alloy I mean. I have a design for some armour that I’ve been working on for a little bit, I had found some ore in a cave when I was helping Sanae a while ago, it looked promising so I was going to do some testing with it.” When Kotetsu asked about building the arm, it seemed he didn’t really word it too well, as Red’s tone got a shade frosty. “You know I've always wanted to craft an arm with one had and two feet. Leaves room for A LOT of error doesn't it?" Kotetsu raised a hand in surrender, conceding that the question was definitely not the right one to be asking. Before he could reply though, Red burst out laughing and shook his head. Kotetsu relaxed at that point while Red explained further; "I have most of the materials and the necessary parts to attach it onto my arm, but i cannot build it when I am down an arm. Y'know how things usually require two hands to do that right? Besides even with all of this the smith i was GOING to get to make up and quit so I guess i got no one to do it now.” He paused for a moment before asking "Unless you were going to take up the job and do it?"

Kotetsu had in fact been thinking about doing just that. The money would be handy, as it would allow him to expand his business. That wasn’t really important though. He had an opportunity to improve himself and help a potential friend in the process. “I wasn’t going to come right out and say it, but now that you bring it up, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in helping you acquire a full set of limbs again. Plus if I put it together, I can probably fix it if you happen to break that one too.” He said with a smirk.

WC: 605
TWC: 2735

So he was wanting to make his arm in the end eh? The male had been both perplexed and at the same time interested in exactly how this was going to going to go so he was going to happily let it happen. Crouching down he would pick up the scroll with his right foot slowly before tossing it up and catching it with his left hand. From there he smiled and leaned against the staff crossing the single arm against his chest as he began to speak," So where shall we be going to do this? I assume you do have a forge you can use in order to complete this task unless you have some secret technique to make it in the training ground." The male at that point would wait for an answer from the male.

After the male had made the decision to go to his forge, the male would kick the staff into the air and watch it spin for a moment. Knowing the exact rotation of the staff he would stick his hand into the air and catch it firmly into his hand, placing the weapon onto his shoulder and smiling," Well go ahead and lead the way then. I guess we can talk about this in there and then go about the actual forging process huh?," If agreed Mo-ri would follow the male back to wherever the forge was and finish their conversation there.

[Exiting to another topic]

[Current WC: 1,878]