A Chance Encounter

Watching Shoko, Koutaku can’t help but observe a few small details. With his mind on a sort of analytical autopilot, he tallies her reactions throughout their short time of knowing one another and notices a throughline: Frustration. Considering the emotion, Koutaku tries to extrapolate why she might be consistently experiencing it, and quickly he comes up with a small host of possibilities. Based on his own experience, the young man knows that he’s most prone to frustration at himself and at those who put expectations on him, furthering his own internal conflict. He wondered then if perhaps he was doing the same to her. As she began to practice Sokumen Henkou, Koutaku was attempting to practice empathy and understanding--something he wasn’t incredible at, but was trying to learn.

As her shuriken changed shape, so too did the thread of his thoughts shift, taking him through different pathways and making him wonder if perhaps there was something specific that he was doing that was bothering Shoko. Nonetheless, he tabled the idea for a moment and took a closer look at her altered shuriken.

“Well, it looks as if you got part of the way there. Solid first shot. My first try I almost stabbed myself with the weapon as it elongated,” he laughed a bit and rubbed the back of his neck as he recalled the embarrassing experience. “My uncle laughed at me for awhile because of it…. Anyways, let’s see here.”

Pausing, Koutaku took in a deep breath and focused his senses on the shuriken, allowing his awareness of chakra to seep up to the surface. The distribution was wrong.

“So the key is a mixture of visualizing the literal form you want the object to take, while holding a connected, though partially separate, image of the final product in your mind. For the latter half of that, I’d focus on pushing the chakra within the object into that shape, more than on the exact process of its transformation.” He considered his own words a moment and then nodded, “The first half is harder, but it gets easier as you figure out your end result. Naturally, your mind and chakra system will get better at responding to your will more readily and accurately. Eventually, you’ll be able to do it without thinking. Besides, the first half is really only important if you want the object to have a meaningful interaction as it’s transforming, rather than just after it’s finished.”

“Does that make sense?” He frowned a bit, clearly not used to being the one teaching someone else. While the mechanical aspects of things and chakra theory came naturally to him, that actually made it a bit harder for him to express things to others in a way that made sense if they didn’t already have significant experience with such.

Spoiler:

Shoko's shuriken twists back into its original shape with a 'pop' as she watches Koutaku explain. She can keep up with him, but not at the same time as she maintains the technique. 

"That makes sense," she says, looking at the shuriken in her hands, marveling a little at how her transformation has not permanently marred it in any way. It makes sense - she doesn't remain green after using Transformation to turn to a potted plant - but without the masking puff of smoke this technique had felt so much more visceral than its cousin. "Thanks."

After a moment's rest, she tries again. 

Then again, and again...

Almost thoughtlessly, she weaves a one-handed serpent while her brows knit in frustration, two hours of effort later. She has a hang of the ring shape, but messing with the blades has been giving her trouble - she keeps losing the sharpened edge whenever she does so. A target opposite her bristles with shuriken and scorch marks, Shoko taking intermittent breaks while she works on techniques to practice her aim with either thrown weapons or fire darts. How much involvement Koutaku has with this is up to him - Shoko doesn't mind more attentive company, despite initial misgivings, but it's also nice to just do your own thing with a friend nearby. She's still sure to inform him every time she gets a bullseye, to be sure.

232
TWC: 2205

Glad that his explanation had worked for Shoko, Koutaku would occasionally correct small things regarding his peer’s chakra control or give tips on visualization. Between giving her direction with the technique and acknowledging her hits, Koutaku resumed his own training, doing so in companionable silence when not dropping a word from time to time. It was comfortable now that they’d found a sort of rhythm, even if they weren’t explicitly training together.

First and foremost, Koutaku continued his practice with Sokumen Henkou(Aspect Alteration), and a number of weapon maneuvers as well. As Shoko gradually became more proficient with the technique, so did Koutaku. Admittedly he was learning as much from having taught it to her—and watched her process—as he was from his actual practice. It was refreshing to see someone else use the technique if he was being entirely honest.

Considering various applications, Koutaku began testing maneuvers against his shadow clones, giving them specific directives and instructions to assist him in his endeavor. They were to try their utmost to stop him, but they also needed to do certain things, thus limiting their true efficacy. That was fine with him, he didn’t need a combat accurate situation, he needed to internalize the principles and movements necessary to perform the techniques almost instinctively.

So it was that Kou or Taku would attack their creator, and in retaliation, he would parry and riposte, sometimes he would use a counterstrike, hitting aside their attacks before following up with one of his own. Other times he’d arrest their momentum with a block inside their guard, and then dismiss them with an extending blade to their throats. As he practiced these he also began incorporating one-handed seals more often, getting more and more proficient as time went on. Gradually the young man improved, clashing with his clones, parrying their attacks, and sometimes going on the offensive. Though infrequent, Koutaku found that simply blocking with his body and stopping an attack at the source—the arm or leg—was a wonderful way to disrupt his clone’s movements, while getting below their guard.

Eventually, however, he moved on, stringing together deflections, parries, and uses of Sokumen Henkou(Aspect Alteration), or even using Feints to draw an attack, just to counterattack to punish the clone’s foolish decisions. Of course, on occasion, as he relaxed the restrictions on the clones, he too was punished for his own indiscretion. It was all a learning experience and he valued each success and failure equally. After all, at the end of the day, he was quite literally beating on himself.

The longer he practiced, the more complex his maneuvers became, and soon he was truly in the thick of it with his clones.

Now with two faced off against him, Koutaku had a wide grin on his features, and a steely cast to his gaze.

The first of the clones, which he referred to as Kou, lunged towards him, unrestrained, at max speed even as the second clone, Taku, threw two shuriken and began to run as well, but instead taking a spiraling path to Koutaku’s left, throwing shuriken at irregular intervals.

Koutaku on the other hand reacted immediately, drawing several wirebound shuriken into his left hand as he rapidly performed handseals with his right. Monkey, Ox, Snake, Ram, Tiger, Dog—a technique went off, an aura of flame-like chakra surrounding his body as he utilized Damage Reduction Shield. With a defensive technique prepared, Koutaku threw his shuriken at the approaching Kou, who drew his wakizashi and altered course, running diagonally to Koutaku’s right. Smiling even wider, Koutaku whipped his left arm to the side, causing the wires connected to those thrown shuriken to move at 140 speed to his left in an arc. His shuriken dragged behind them, reaching the right points each time to deflect the thrown implements. At the same time, Koutaku drew his wakizashi, stabbed it into the ground to his right, and then performed another series of handseals.

Kou, on the other hand, realized he’d been fooled and so performed the seals for the Wind Release: Jump Technique, and lunged back at his creator at 150 speed. Yet, the young man was undaunted, whipping his right hand up even as he used his chakra sensory to keep track of Taku’s movements. As a consequence, his blade rose from the soil, tip first, and its tip angled such that would it would slash up Kou’s face if he didn’t avoid it. Slamming a foot down, Kou altered trajectories in an instant, avoiding the blade, for a fraction of a second before thrusting himself back into his creator’s range where he slashed.

However, Koutaku had finished his handseals.


The blade’s tip suddenly elongated at 65 speed downwards, its tip aimed directly at the clone’s skull. Of course, it wouldn’t be fast enough to dismiss Kou, so the original raised an arm as the wakizashi approached, and performed Block. Though he winced as the flat of the blade struck his arm, the end result was only 10 damage getting through his two defensive techniques and a moment later Kou vanished in a puff of smoke.

Shaking his wrist, Koutaku instinctively ducked as a blade swiped where his head had been, Taku clearly having taken the initiative to close the distance with Bullrush. Gritting his teeth, Koutaku spun on one hand, releasing more wire, and a burst of chakra as he whirred through handseals, and then suddenly Taku’s eyes widened.

Before the clone could properly react a whirling mass of cutting wires erupted outwards and shredded the clone, dissolving it into smoke. Koutaku, breathing a bit harder, smiled to himself, performed the shadow clone technique, and then blurred back into motion, not yet done practicing all his newfound talents.

Taku opened this time, performing an enhancer to blitz Koutaku even as the clone threw out shuriken to get wires on the field. Immediately suspicious, Koutaku altered the shape and length of his wakizashi so that it curved around his body, and then he swung it in a strange motion that forced the clone to draw a weapon and defend itself. Knocked back initially, Taku took a moment to recover and assess its options and in its stead, Kou lept forward. Shuriken narrowly missed his creator as they sailed by either shoulder and then stabbed into the ground. Koutaku ducked down and dashed forwards, then to the right, spinning and releasing wires as he did so.

Kou almost ran into the wire but used Split Second to slide under them before popping up and chasing after his creator. Taku on the other hand had recovered entirely and had tossed a flurry of wirebound shuriken into the air. Koutaku, watching them closely, noted their trajectories, and then stopped short and spun, slashing at Kou with a quickly drawn blade. The clone, not entirely expecting Koutaku to turn, barely blocked the attack, before delivering one of his own by finishing his handseals and activating wind wall. Buffered back, Koutaku glanced up even as he ignored the pain from the concussive winds, and then made a snap decision.

Utilizing Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere with a swift set of handseals, Koutaku fired them upwards in an arc aimed at the now descending shuriken, before arresting his backward slide with a hand so that he evened out. Continuing the motion he braced one foot against the ground and then performed a second technique.

With the use of the Dragon, Hare, Ram, and Horse handseals, Koutaku activated Zephyr blade. With his hand wreathed in wind chakra, Koutaku swiped to his left, sending the blade hurtling at the clone who was barreling at him and using his shuriken as a distraction.

That clone, Taku, smirked and dodged the projectile, but as he did something unexpected occurred. There was a flash of light on metal and a weapon erupted from the side of the wind blade and struck the clone.


Not yet done, Koutaku had stabbed wirebound shuriken into the ground, before leaping at Taku, who was briefly in shock at the maneuver. Things were not to be though as Kou emerged from the Wind Wall, having already performed the seals for ninjutsu amplifier and Wind Release: Jump, he thrust towards his creator at a startling speed. Koutaku, noticing this, took a deep breath and activated Sokumen Henkou(Aspect Alteration) at the same time as Hidden Arms.

Six wirebound shuriken were drawn from his pouch at once, and as he visualized their changes in a flash of inspiration, their forms all warped simultaneously. Each shuriken first flattened out completely, the circle in the center almost entirely closed, as the blades grew narrower, and then rapidly elongated so that each was a 6 inches in length. Careful not to strike himself, Koutaku flicked his wrists and the six altered weapons blurred around him at 140 speed, with a startling impact force. At the same time, he stabbed his wakizashi into the ground, leapt onto the end of its grip as Taku attempted to swipe at him with a blade, and then pushed down and forwards and into a spin. Releasing more wire the range of his weapons drastically increased, and both clones were struck before Koutaku landed and came to rest.

Smiling, Koutaku withdrew his weapons and dismissed Sokumen Henkou(Aspect Alteration), stowing the former away as he considered the experience of his clones. Gradually slowing his breathing, Koutaku sat down a meter or two away from Shoko and watched her training. Idly as he considered his own exercise, Koutaku realized that he had something else of value to offer her.

“Ninjutsu Amplifier is a technique you ought to learn,” he'd say, before launching into an explanation of the technique. Koutaku would give her all the information she needed to utilize it, hoping that she'd find some use for it. Almost without thought for his words, the Iouchiryo would explain the principles behind Ninjutsu Amplifier, that the technique essentially formatted chakra such that it would naturally take on the properties of the chosen ninjutsu that was utilized after it. Essentially, it was like setting aside extra chakra to pour into a technique, thus increasing its efficacy significantly. The technique could grow both faster and more powerful, it could gain health as well if it had such a thing to begin with. Furthermore, one could choose to use the modifiers of ninjutsu amplifier to increase only one particular aspect of a jutsu. Perhaps you wanted it to move or be created faster, or perhaps its power was the most important aspect of its use in a given instance. Either of these could be amplified by the technique and he made sure to make that clear.

At once he ran scenarios in his mind, going through a wide variety of maneuvers, technique combinations, and tool uses to further expand his repertoire of combat strategies and tactics. Among them were uses of Ninjutsu Amplifier. Once more, teaching a technique to Shoko had helped him better understand it for himself and he began considering how he could have it synergize with various jutsu that he tended to use most often. This got him on another track though, what techniques did he use most often? How could he really ever know until he was in a proper combat scenario. Frowning slightly, Koutaku decided it was time to go, he needed to ask some of his family members some questions.

Eventually, however, he got up, brushed himself off, and performed the necessary handseals to swap his training wire with his actual wires.

Giving Shoko one last bow and a small smile, Koutaku bid her farewell.

“I've got some other business to attend to. We should do this again sometime, it was a pleasure. I'm sure you'll be giving me a run for my money in no time,” then with a wave the young genin turned away from her and strode from the room. Heading out through the rest of the training facility he carefully avoided the other shinobi, no longer in need of a warm-up, and then delivered his borrowed wire to the storage area.

That done, Koutaku left the facility and began making his way home. As he did the genin found himself lost in thought. What techniques of his were the most useful? The most applicable in combat scenarios? He began going down the list.

Sokumen Henkou(Aspect Alteration) was easily among the most versatile and thus useful of his techniques. Beyond that, Radial Shred was incredibly powerful. However, as he went through the list, Koutaku began to realize that there was something essential he was lacking. Powerful ninjutsu area of effect attacks. He needed a bit more raw offensive attacks, or perhaps just battlefield control independent of his wires? It was something to think about, especially with the tournament coming up soon.

Speaking of which, was that a new poster? His eyes turning to a nearby wall he’d passed, Koutaku backtracked and glanced at it. Slowly, a smile came over his features as he noted that it showed him a roster. One of the contestants, the one he’d be fighting first, was Ai Senju. Hadn’t he met her along with Saya? Yes...yes he had. How amusing.

Chuckling to himself as he read the rest of the prevalent information on the ad, Koutaku considered the other names on the roster, before shrugging slightly. He hadn’t met most of them, though he did recognize Niko’s name. That would be interesting if they ended up facing one another. Perhaps rather unlikely though, given that they’d have to both make it to the finals. Moving on, Koutaku continued on his way home, ideas, and lists, and soon-to-be adversaries roiling about in his mind’s eye.

Eventually, he made his way into the Iouchiryo household and it was there that he sought out his grandfather. As he did so he greeted his mother, shooed his cousins, and grabbed a small snack from the kitchen. Eventually, he found the man--of course--in the dojo meditating, as if his grandfather had known all along that he’d arrive.

The man, without even opening an eye, addressed him with a cool and even tone “Come, sit with me,” and Koutaku shook his head and did so.

It was time to talk strategy and Iouchiryo, Senku-sha was certainly the right man to instruct him.

Spoiler:

Approved

Shoko pays close attention to Koutaku's training, making a mental note to figure out how to use clones. Shadow Clones might be beyond her for a while, but she could try a weaker solid variation to spar with... she joins in on some of the deflection training, and waves him farewell when he heads out, staying a little later to keep working on her one-handed seals.

Exit

66
TWC 2271
Claiming w/benefits of Advanced Training Facility
1000 words for One-Handed Seals, training with Koutaku, 50% off
250 words for Aspect Alteration up to C rank, taught by Koutaku, 75% off
250 words for Ninjutsu Amplifier up to C rank, taught by Koutaku, 75% off
750 on Deflect up to B-rank, training with Koutaku, 50% off

22 stats (going into Chakra)

Approved