Painter and Thief [P]

Shunro calmed himself

"Focus" breathe in... Breathe out...

His hands flexed oddly as he felt the paper peel away from his body, adrift in the air around him. Feeling it, the air, the subtle shift in the currents as they floated. His hands flew threw the next four hand seals. Bird, Hare, Boar, then finally Ram. The moulding of chakra flowed through him and into his floating pieces. Their movements focused, ready.

With sweat beading on his brow he thought how funny it was something as simple as this was a struggle. Ah well. Suppose that's what getting lazy does to you. Four more slips of paper peel off his skin, winding into a tight and sharp needle longer than his outstretched arm.
Breath in... The needle drew back.
Breathe out... The needle whistled through the air, whizzing through at the behest of shunro alone, before impaling the head of a nearby dummy. The paper unfurling from the needle shape and falling to the ground harmlessly afterwards.

He laughed just a bit. Ahhh so much exertion for the barest amount of progress. Ah well. It was something. He takes a moment to release the chakra being held, heading over to a bag he had left by the wall of the facility. Getting a drink of water and to take a moment to tie up his hair, wipe away sweat, and just take a moment to relax in general. He still had to remember Exhalation, Flight, Spear... Menagerie... God. It'll be a while to get back to what he used to know.

[263]

Up next, Exhalation. He moved the dummies around the room using flutter, not too difficult compared to sending pieces through the dummies but still a bit of an intensive move. Pieces of the paper flowed around him and underneath their stands before floating upwards and surrounding him in a circle with him in the center. He drew in a breath once more. Focusing on his body this time.

He could still remember back home, the first time he had managed to feel his body fall away to nothing. Skin and hair and eyes flying off in patches of white paper like dust in the wind. He just needed to control it. He drew himself inwards, sending chakra racing up to the surface of his skin, seams appearing on his body that began to bulge and bristle as they were packed tight with pages and more pages looking like they were about to burst.

Finally, he ran through the hand seals. Bird, then horse, then ram, then dragon, then horse. Finally he felt his body fly off, like so long ago. A plum of paper exploding off of him with him at the center of it all, scarring the walls, floor,. and dummies alike and leaving the air clogged with the stark white presence of the paper. He stands in the center of it all, deep breaths as he smiles. His skin pockmarked with the seams and lines from where they came off of him in large patches of stark white.

[513]

His hands touch the floating paper, admiring his own handiwork as they fly and flutter around in the air aimlessly. He takes another breath. His own breath dancing among the air currents with his paper. Pieces of himself occupying all the world. He raises his hand again and the air shudders.

With a swipe of his hand all the paper in the air hones itself to a cutting edge, lacerating through the dummys neck. The paper beneath it skewers the wooden replica on its spears as they form from the residual paper on the floor. The other dummies follow suit, gestures from shunro command the paper aloft in the air to move at his whim. Skewering, spearing, slicing, or crushing as he commands.

He has fun with it honestly.

Taking the time to form a massive arm from the paper around him to crush and squeeze a dummy, his other hand focused on forming the paper in the air into a massive snake creature, biting and crunching on another dummy. It felt nice, it felt GOOD to stretch his legs a bit more with his jutsu and do more than just creating explosives. His paper was a canvas and his chakra was the ink to make it into what he wanted. The freedom of it all put a smile onto his face. Especially as another idea crossed his mind.

He formed the paper around himself, strapping it under his arms and tight against his back before two wings form out of the paper floating along in the air. With a flap of his new wings he flies quickly to the roof of the training facility. Smilling and practically laughing all the while. He had forgotten the fun of it, of flying, of feeling no ground beneath your feet.

[811]