Secret Technique: Tofu

Daiko nodded his head, trying to take in everything that Saya was telling him. It was a lot. So he had to... Focus on his different chakra points in order to do that...? That didn't make too much sense considering, well.. You know. His chakra network was fine, but. His insides were kinda a mess of cords, and Daiko had a good feeling that the elements that he possessed came from the heart. Not his own heart, except for Doton. Anyways. Daiko would nod his head, listening to all the advice that she was giving him. Cracking his knuckles he... Gives it a shot. Hmn. Scratching his head, he remembered that Saya did something fancy to make the trees come up, and so did Rokumo. "So. What can you tell me about these trees here? How would I do that?" Daiko figured that if he had an end goal of what he needed to do, it would be a bit easier to envision what he had to do. He had a pretty good idea on how it's done given her previous statements, and he decided it would be best to give it a try. Cracking his knuckles, Daiko stops on the ground as he had seen her do, and then puts his hands in front of himself. Squinting, nothing happens. 

Damn. That wood heart he had picked up off of Rokumo must've been a dud. It's no matter though, Daiko felt on his insides that there was an undetectable wriggling going on between his Doton and his Suiton hearts, and it felt like they were... Connecting. It felt like not just in his body but also in his chakra network, the two were forming together and essentially becoming one. When he did this. Daiko raised his hands up, and watched the trees all around begin to come up, grass and such life sprouting out all around, adding to the thicket of tress that were currently around them. "HOLY FUCK DUDE." Daiko regained his composure just as quickly as he'd lost it. "Holy.. Man. That's... That's pretty sick. That's really awesome. Here I thought I'd never be able to do it, not gonna lie." Scratching the back of his head, Daiko blinks. "Wait, could you show me that cool dog one by any chance? That one was super sweet when we were fighting before." Daiko nods his head, and takes a few steps back so that he could see what was going on. 

Stretching out, Daiko waits to see what Saya had to add to the lesson. He definitely needed to learn the technique that allowed him to make the trees come out of the ground, and he was really interested in learning that cool one with the dogs. Daiko felt like they could be useful in a pinch, and there was nothing wrong with picking up a few jutsu that would be worth their weight in.. Wood? I guess. Deciding not to think on it too much harder, Daiko focuses his attention on Saya so he wouldn't lose track of the lesson. 

[521]
{3052}

"Oh easy. That's just Nativity. SO like. There are two versions. Theres nativity of a sea of trees and nativity of a world of trees. Really World is just a more powerful version of sea. So like. You draw chakra just like I was telling you and then you Form four seals. Snake. Rat. Ox. and ti... ger. Uh. Or I guess you could do that." She wasn't sure how exactly he'd managed, but without seals Daiko had unlocked an effect similar to nativity of a sea of trees. Thinking about it, it kind of made sense? Maybe she was just over thinking it. It was possible when someone was learning to control a new element that their body simply creates using that element. It wasn't ideal, given that the user has little to no control over the effects, but the strength of ones chakra can sometimes be like that. 

"Right. Yea. Kind of like that, but I'd definitely use some hand seals first. THe more powerful version, world, Actually allows you to control and manipulate The trees, their roots, like the whole shebang within a certain radius. Seals are Tiger, dragon, rabbit, monkey, and snake. Add a ram before the snake for the highest rank. It's pretty cool. Especially cuz you can totally just go tree surfing. Super helpful. " Dang. She really had to think back for this one. Daiko asked her about the foo puppies jutsu. She hadn't actually used that jutsu since she fought yagami. Shortly after she'd created a more effective version, and she'd not looked back ever since. 

"So. Foo dogs. RIght. Helpful to note, I've kind of crafted my own version of foo dogs. It's called great grasping vines gathering motion to defend the pacifist's will and subdue the world's cruelty. I named it myself--though most of the time we just call it grasping vines, or just vines. Instead of big ole statues created around you it makes these small flowers somewhere on your body that can spawn vines. Foo dogs is definitely a classic though." As she continued to try her hardest to remember how to craft the jutsu, she shook her head. maybe she could just put a bunch of random seals together and just like. Pour so much chakra into it that it didn't matter? Then it hit her. 

A pine cone dropped from the top of one of the trees above them, clanging down on her head with a soft thud. It didn't really hurt, but it was a bit startling. That jolt to the noggin really did the trick though. 

"Oh. Ok. " Slowly she'd form the hand seals. Snake. Boar. Dog. Tiger. Rat. Hare. Snake. 

"it's got a ton of hand seals, but you can train it to not have so many. Much longer range than my vines, but It spawns around you instead of directly on you so in a pinch the vines defintely take the cake. Something about not being able to summon them within a certain radius of an enemy. I think it has something to do with enemy chakra in their root making it hard to create in close vicinity?" 

(TWC 3106)

Daiko nods his head, taking note of the instruction that he was given. Yeah, it didn't make much sense that trees had sprouted without handseals, but... You know. Daiko had seen it pulled off once before, and now currently had the face of the last person that had done it to him stowed away in some sort of pocket dimension. Poor Rokumo. Either way, Daiko was definitely astounded that he was able to do anything at all with wood, and was glad that he was able to prove to his teacher that he was actually capable of doing it. Yeah. Maybe she would like. Think that he was technically a Senju too? That could be pretty cool. Luckily enough, Daiko never had to deal with any of the things that she had to deal with being part of the... great... Senju clan. He only had to deal with eating rats and basically being treated like a pest anywhere he went. I mean, that was a solid trade-off, I suppose. 

Nodding his head, Daiko notes the handseals that she had listed, and very quickly replicated them. Each subtle movement was similar to others that they had trained, but at this moment they carried very different meanings. The alignments of his hands and the molding of his chakra led to him having a better understanding of what he was able to do, and what that would mean as far as the core of his being would actually produce. It was a strange feeling, to say the least. Cracking his neck, Daiko tries again with some other seals and actually manages to make some more grass sprout from the ground, as well as one of the other trees a few meters away from him changing shape, and swirling around to create different patterns as the word produced itself, almost like a lotus flower. That was pretty sweet. It seemed like whatever shape that he would think of when taking control of them with the world of trees, the branches, and other growths off of the tree would follow his will. That was pretty awesome, considering the best he could achieve usually would be shooting out threads and just like... Rending people. Hey, that's how he got one of his shiny new eyes, after all. 

Looking back at his teacher, Daiko nods. "Oh... I see. The wooden dogs are old news, huh? What is this about vines?" Daiko blinks a couple of times and then waves his hands in front of his face. "You don't have to teach me your secret techniques if you don't want to. I don't really have anything to teach you to trade or anything like that. I just recently picked up on having a knack for Wood techniques, so all I really have are things that manipulate the earth." Daiko stares off in space for a second, and then continued to listen to Saya's explanation, as well as waiting on a cool demonstration that would obviously occur. "Earth is pretty sweet." 

[503]
[3555]

For the bulk of their time talking about the power of her bloodline, it didn't even register to Saya that it was odd that he could do this. Honestly, after having seen him literally have his limbs cut off and then daiko reattaching them once more, She'd stopped asking how exactly he did the things he did. It did catch for a moment in her mind that it was odd though. She knew so little about her clan. About the supposed family she was supposed to have in some far off land. THe stories said that there was a time when there were hundreds just like her gathered together for the good of their people. The comradery sounded nice, but honestly... She liked it better this way. There was something about a group of people gaining entitlement by those who were exactly like themselves didn't quite sit right with the tiny terror. Kind of explains how they ended up scattered and mostly forgotten for so long.

She would watch Daiko work his magic. Well. It wasn't actually magic. It was ninjutsu. There wasn't really a question in how it was done, but to those without ability it definitely would have seemed as such. Is this how witches have felt for hundreds of years? Practitioners having a simple understanding of what seems so fantastic that many feared it's power? Probably.

"Yea. I mean. It's still really cool, but the vines jutsu like. In my opinion it has better uses. So the trade off is this: The food dogs jutsu can definitely travel like. Way farther, but you have to create them from the ground so things get a little sketchy if you aren't standing on ground level of the place you're at. They're also much much larger. Vines though, can be created and shifted from any part on your body and they're more agile. Oh. Also yanno how you can use your threads to like. sink into the ground and move yourself around supah fast? I can do that with vines." In emphasis, She would allow her great grasping vines jutsu take hold. Six flowers seemed to spin from beneath her skin, into vibrant life at specific points on her body. For this use, She'd one on each ankle, On one each wrist, And one each on her collar bones seemingly above her clothing. Two dark green vines slid from the spots on her ankles, gently lifting her from the ground with incredibly power.

"It's my personal technique, but I don't mind teaching it. I already taught Dana how to do it, and if Ai can ever figure out wood style, Im gonna teach it to her for sure. Plus we're teammates yanno? Even if you don't have anything to teach me now, I'm sure you'll learn something later thats super helpful. It really is one of my coolest tools. That and my seal of absorbtion. That jutsu is PRIME!" As she spoke, she thought about the jutsu she'd given to Ai. THe uses of it were so numerous, and would only get better as she got stronger.

(TWC 3623)

Daiko gave a thumbs up. It seemed like Saya didn't mind sharing some cool jutsu, which was definitely okay by him. Thinking for a second, he realizes that Dana is actually someone that he knew as well. It was actually the person that sold him the organ that allowed him to do all this cool stuff with Wood jutsu. For whatever reason, Daiko felt like it probably wasn't the best move to point out that he had actually implanted a kidney from one of a Senju clan members in order to get this power. Equally so, he felt like it probably wans't the smartest move to talk about how he had basically shredded Rokumo apart and double desecrated a few bystanders just to be able to have the elemental prowess to begin to do this. That... Wasn't really important in the grand scheme of things, and Daiko would much rather focus on the lessons at hand rather than take the time to explain to Saya his past exploits in taking missions, as well as... The missions that he took. He assumed that she might not be the one to tell about Daiko's recent enjoyment with killing. Pinoch would probably think it was dope as shit though. 

Stretching out, Daiko blinks for a second and then resumes the lesson. He watches to see what Saya does, and he begins to see the flowers form under her skin that she had been describing with her vine jutsu. It seemed like it was part of her own body, much like how Daiko's threads were part of his. For a minute he was a bit taken aback, and flattered. He had shown her his strange psychology and rather than think it was disgusting, she made a sick ass jutsu that played on similar mechanics, focusing on the body-centered aspect of it as well as carrying through with her own special touches. If Daiko had the capacity to feel such emotion for longer than a second, he would've shed a tear. Nodding his head, he gets into action. "Hey, that seems like it shouldn't be too bad. Let me... Try this out really quick." Forming whatever handseals were necessary, Daiko forms the seals quickly and does his best to complete them as Saya had. Once he did, small black lotus flowers sprouted over his skin, and little black and grey vines sprouted out, with royal purple thorns. Damn, that was pretty fucking awesome. He used the vines to stick into the ground, and let a couple of them wave around his person. "Oh damn. That's actually pretty sick, check this out." Daiko uses the vines to lift himself up slightly and then bring himself back to the ground. "These remind me a lot of the black threads that I use. They seem a bit more versatile though. How many of these are able to be made? What do you usually do with these?" For a moment, Daiko remembered that he had seen Dana completing the surgery that she had done on him with these same strange vines. Hmn. That was pretty awesome. Daiko would have to keep this in mind for later. 

[528]
{4083}

"yea it's really not too tough. " It shouldn't have come as a surprise to Saya that Daiko picked each technique up so quickly. She'd done so herself also, but She still wasn't quite used to being around people at her level. She'd always been the bright star in the room--or an utter failure. Even when she was being looked down upon though, it was because of her potential. Her first teacher had said she could master her clan element back when she was first studying if she'd just taken the time to sit down and listen, but that never was Saya's style.

It was strange how much had changed since then. The small girl who'd showed up at the gates of Kiri a couple years ago would never have been caught dead in a training hall. Never would have been able to learn to harness the power of sage mode, Wouldn't have suceeded at any of this. SHe looked back at the hard months of training she'd endured. The outfits left unfished and the songs unsung. Was she really growing up? Ai put a hand on Saya's shoulder in quiet support, dragging her mind back to the present.

"Uh. Six. Or was it eight. I think it's six. " She'd take a moment to allowe the full power of the technique to apply. In a moment each of the six flowers on her body sprouted their own vine that shot out towards daiko, stopping at the half way point before coiling back into the flower. "it's pretty cool. Really helps for a few things. Like I can use them to lift myself, lift heavy objects, They make me move way faster if I need to get out of stuff uh. Oh. If I ever end up fighting a close range fighter they're great. Fun fact: A taijutsu master has exactly two hands. I have six vines. I'm not great at math but thats at least twice as many. It also can tie people up and sap their chakra! Overall a hecka good technique. Other than that though.... Lets see. Theres Wood clone. That's pretty cool? Great forrest and triffle of the senju, but I think you have to be from the clan to learn trifle. OH also cutting. Cool jutsu that makes like wood projectiles you can throw at people. I think that's all the wood style i know. Except Wooden doll's first breath of life. That one I can't teach you either. It's only for the pure blooded senju BUT that's how I made pinochio and Ai. They're called living clones technically. Was there anything else you know of that you're interested in? I've got some cool new lightning style too. I learned lighting on a whim. " She ran through her jutsu list. WHile she had an eidetic memory there was a strange CenterPoint between the three that often left holes in her own personal understanding. Either she knew it or one of the puppets did, of course, but it was hard to tell which one sometimes.


(TWC 4130)

Daiko nods his head, taking in the advice that he had been granted by Saya. It was really kind that she had begun showing him how to ustilzie wood techniques properly, and even more so for no questioning how the hell he had actually managed to pick up Senju techniques that were... Somewhat exclusive to the blodline of her and her clan. Oh well. That only meant that it was less questions he would have to answer later on. Stretching out, Daiko looks back at Saya and considered the different aspects of their friendship, as well as their partnership. She was the first person that had shown him kindness when he had originally entered this village, and made sure that he had a safe haven here in Kirigakure no Sato. 

Stretching out, Daiko takes a moment to reflect on the different things that he had been through since he had originally stepped foot in the village. Intially, there was really only basic= missions being done, as well as giving general tours of the town and other things such as that. He had been acting like a tourist... a villager even, until he had started undertaking some of the more serious missions that the Second Mizukage had been informing him about when he first entered the village. He had done... A lot. Not just with Saya, but on his own as well. He vaguely recalls the days when they had been on the borders and been attacked, and it cut a bit too deep to think about the time they had let that confound speedster ninja escape, without throwing any real attacks. Somewhat of a meme, but otherwise, it was a time that he had failed. Taking out his pent up aggression on Rokumo didn't... Really help. Though it solved his issue with wanting violence, it didn't really save him from the feeling that was slowly eating at him inside. He'd seen a few different elemental releases, and Wood was definitely something that had been on his bucket list. There was still... Fire and wind. Two elements left for him to conquer, and two trials that he still had to overcome. 

Turning his attention back to Saya, Daiko takes a moment to listen and process what she was telling him. "Tie people up, hmn? I know a couple ways to do that. But it really never hurts to be able to do that in a few different ways..." Daiko took a moment to think about... The cool new jutsu that he had ended up purchasing from some shady individuals. "Wood clones? That sounds really cool, actually. I could think of a few simple uses for that, even if that's only for a distraction..." Daiko scratches his chin. Though he never really considered bringing new clones into the fray, he though of a couple different ways that it could be very helpful. "Those sound really good. Do you mind... Showing me everything you can? I'll be able to decide what's what, and I'll have a better idea of what I need to become stronger."

[512]
{4595}

Yes. There was definitely a reason why they met. Not only had they become fast friends, but She could see so many pieces of herself in daiko. There was a strange duality between their similarities and differences. Personality wise they both shared an upbeat nature, with Saya being higher energy and daiko more chill. This could be seen in their interests in combat also. They were both terrors on the field, but there was a compliment between Saya's tendency to hold back and Daiko's interest in pushing forward. Despite her distaste for death and ability to simply ignore or forget that which could shatter her perception of the world, the look in daiko's eyes when he hones in on a kill stuck with her. SHe wasn't really sure how to deal with that. 

"Ye. So many helpful uses!! Honestly. Thinking about it, it reminds me alot of the wierd knee threads you use." They weren't knee threads. WHile she hadn't really seen them used otherwise, she knew enough about the effects of ninjutsu to assume that he could use them in ways other than shotgun knee maneuvers. 

"Wood clones are pretty neat. They cost alot of chakra tho. You lose a big portion of your pool by using them. I think they can help draw nature energy though. I haven't tried it yet, but I feel like that could be hugely helpful for Using Sage mode, which I should really try out. " She'd formed the seals before she even finished the statement.

Tiger. Dog. Snake. Dragon. Boar. 

From her body a great pouring of mokuton spilled out across the earth. It rose, Taking shape quickly, Amorphous forms slimming and forming into a likeness of the tiny terror before finally a splash of color emphasized their existence. There was no comment between them. Only a nod of understanding. A nod of understanding and of course a peace sign accompanying a huge grin. 

"sorry. I might have. Here. Its Tiger, dog, snake, dragon, and boar. Sometimes I just like. Do things without thinking cuz i had an idea but my mind processes faster than I can express the thought to others. UH. Yea. I dunno what else I know that you might want to learn though.  OH Theres whirling waters of wowness. It's a bit big to actually cast around here though. Basically it creates two huge globes of water that trap an opponent in powerful currents and then grind them up in the center between the two. UH. lets see." She actually had to pause and think. In truth she knew a huge volume of jutsu, but despite her understanding of her own power, She was generally humble about her position in the village and within the ninja world. 

"I know a couple chidori techniques too? And the summoning technique--not like summon summoning but like stuff summoning. Can be used on people too i think but I haven't really gotten that far. Amplifier techniques? I've been trying to learn an amp that can work with fuinjutsu. " 

(TWC 4635)

Daiko nods his head, taking in the vines that Saya had shown him. For another moment. He had essentially gotten it figured out, and it seemed like it would have varied uses depending on the situation. Worst case scenario, if he ever found himself in a situation where only his black threads weren't enough for him to actually come out as a victor in a fight, it would be good to have a couple of back-up options whenever it was needed. Daiko considered for a moment the implication of using things like these to perhaps travel around. He knew that his threads were capable of doing such things, though it took a moment of consideration to wonder if these vines would be good for regular movement, or if they would be better for blocking attacks or maybe doing a some ripping and scratching here and there. This would be something that he would consider more later.

Daiko widened his eyes a bit when he saw the clones that Saya had created take shape. "Oh, that's.. Pretty awesome. That seems a bit more advanced than regular shadow clones. What separates these from the usual clones that people make before burning all of their chakra?" Daiko turns his head slight, and then thinks for a second. He remembers that dude Keita saying something about how the lightning clones that could be formed took a role up when it came to using powerful lightning jutsu. Daiko assumed that these clones made of wood probably did something similar to that, just more akin to wood rather than lightning. That is pretty cool, he supposed. Daiko stretched out for a second. "Whirling waters, you say? That sounds like it could be pretty cool." Relaxing for a moment, he would wait to see the next explanation that Saya had for him. These giant ass water globes would probably be pretty helpful, especially if they left a bunch of water laying around for him to do stuff with. It was pretty cool, the more he thought about it.

Daiko scratched his chin. "Hmn. Chidori techniques. I'm not really a huge fan of using lightning all that much. The last time I ended up usi-- Actually, never mind. But those things are really cool. There are couple of other things that might be helpful to add to my arsenal... And I was thinking... Oh, yeah. Can you show me more in-depth about the foo dogs? I know the vines do pretty good stuff, but I like how the dogs look. They're kinda cute, and I wanna watch them chomp on people." Daiko nods his head, and then once again resumes standing basically still to listen to whatever explanations that Saya would have for him. He had a couple of funky ideas that he would be able to do with the different techniques, and he thought that it was very helpful that Saya would be able to help him pick them up faster than if he hadn't have done this training at all.


[505]
{5100}

She glanced at her clones for a moment, holding up one hand, palm outward towards the pair. In a scene directly out of a movie the two followed in perfect unison, holding their left hands up to mirror Saya's right. What would happen next was a several minute long montage of them moving like a mirror before Saya released the two clones. Each of the wood clone sayas lost color quickly, their bodies shriveling up before turning to ash. Then the power hit her.

She was sort of used to the strength granted by Nature chakra, but it was always something else entirely. So much strength in such a small amount of energy. Her eyes widened as she felt the drawn power pool into her body.

"Yea. Uh. Whirling waters of Wowness. It's a super cool jutsu. Made it myself. Big are of effect technique thats hard to get out of. Best part though, is that you have to say the name to use it. Dunno why. Seals are pretty easy tho.

Bird. Dog. Tiger. Bird.

"Whirling waters of wowness" Without thinking she'd drawn one finger to her lips. Immediately she felt the pulse of chakra threatening to tear from her lips. With the jutsu finished shes struggled to hold back the activation of the technique, releasing the strength of one stack of nature chakra. That... Wasn't exactly the plan. Long Black lines formed across her skin as true sage mode activated. Her eyes grew black circles as the Norse symbols continued to seep up from beneath her skin. A great flow of water poured from her lips, destroying several of the trees off to her left before she swallowed the tech, deactivating it.

"So. If you lose contol of a jutsu and need to try and stop it quickly... Do NOT go into sage mode. Does not help. " She'd almost lost track of what they were talking about as she struggled with the jutsu. THen she remembered.

"Right. Uh. Maybe no on the chidori. That's fine. I can probably show you foo dogs!" SHe was interupted by a quiet AHEM to her left.

"THe differences between shadow and wood clone are that Wood clones are made of mokuton and you can form them into seeds that can be used to track targets. " Behind her the tall Freyja puppet stepped forward, finishing the thought she'd compltely lost.

"RIght. Yes. Uh. Foo dogs. Super cute, extremely large. Wierdly long radius of attack actually. They're pretty good, I'm not sure why I stopped using them. " Absentmindedly she began the seals for a technique she'd once known so fully she could cast it in her sleep. Literally. She'd removed the hand seals and could cast it with no effort.

Snake. Boar. Dog. Tiger. Rat. Hare. Snake.

A single dog faced statue tore from the ground just beside her, raising up to look between the pair. Dropping his head, he offered the top to Saya, who was more than elated to give it a long skirtch behind the ears.

(TWC 5140)