Perfection of Total Concentration Breathing

As Joro was making his way towards his opponent, he got hit with Dominion for 125 HP for 2 posts.

We talked about it OOC and we are gonna skip the next two of my posts to get past the paralysis.

With Joro resituating himself. In response to Amikiri's question, Joro's expression shifted slightly, his friendly demeanor remaining but with a touch of cautiousness. "Ah, Amikiri, you got me there," he replied, his tone light but guarded. "As for my next move, I suppose I'll have to see how the game unfolds."

He subtly adjusted the bracelets around his wrists, a nervous tic betraying his inner thoughts. "But don't worry, I'm always ready to adapt and make the best of any situation," he added with a reassuring smile, masking any unease he might be feeling.

Turning the conversation back to Amikiri, Joro continued, "What about you? Any plans or strategies in mind for you?" His question was genuine, curious to hear Amikiri's perspective on the upcoming exchange.

With him gathering his steps he would patiently wait for Amikiri's next move considering his last one wasn't the best. He would move backwards 15 meters at a speed of 195, keeping an eye on him ready to adapt to his his next move.

WC:211
TWC: 3597
AP Usage:
20 AP for RCB
Last Post
5 AP for Clone Technique
290/300 HP
765/850
I got back Quickdraw for not using it.

[OOC Note: This first paragraph is just what Amikiri did during Joro's paralysis, none of it super important, it's mainly just filler]

As Amikiri’s plan unfolded and Joro was paralyzed, the Hyuuga started on his next course of action. Dominion would reach its maximum range, deactivating but still keeping its paralysis effect active. Amikiri would also sheath his three Universal Projectiles on his belt near where he held them and he would put his Great Spear across his back. While all of this was happening and Amikiri was waiting for Joro to become unparalyzed, the dark haired man would slowly walk in a ~9.5 meter radius circle around Joro, simply to pass the time. Moments before Joro would become unparalyzed, Amikiri’s movements would make it so he completed a revolution along his circular path.

Joro’s choice of words clearly indicated to Amikiri that Joro wanted him to take the next step in their battle and for the Hyuuga to push this spar forward. In response to Joro’s question, Amikiri would say, “Well, I think my past actions might’ve been a bit too blunt and straightforward. Now, I think I’ll be a bit more subtle.”

Amikiri would hesitate for a bit, to see if Joro had any plans. While Amikiri didn’t discern a plan from it, Joro would soon take action. As soon as the Shokku started moving backwards, Amikiri’s left hand would cover the negligible distance to his hips, draw a Universal Projectile (210 throwing speed, 115 throwing range, 115 impact force) with a Smoke Bomb attached, and throw it straight in the direction of Joro. The projectile flew about a meter and a half above the ground. The Hyuuga lit the fuse in a way so that, factoring in the speed of his Universal Projectile, the smoke bomb would detonate when it had traveled fifteen meters. Additionally, as soon as the universal projectile had traveled four meters, Amikiri would start running full speed at Joro, taking a path straight towards the Shokku.

As the projectile crossed the fifteen meter mark and Amikiri the eleven meter mark, the smoke bomb would detonate. Smoke would immediately rush outward (70 speed) attempting to expand to a three meter radius as fast as possible. The Hyuuga would continue running forward and, upon having traveled two and a half more meters, he would enter the smoke cloud. At this point, the opaque smoke cloud was large enough to completely obscure Amikiri from Joro. Once Amikiri entered the smoke cloud, he would immediately weave three handseals, Ram, Monkey, and Hare, to activate the False Surroundings technique, which Joro would instantly fall under the effects of. He would use it to make his Great Spear look like a Universal Projectile and one his Universal Projectile look like a Great Spear. Amikiri would draw a Universal Projectile with his left hand and Great Spear with his right hand, before swapping the hands they were held in. This was because Amikiri usually wielded his Great Spear in his right hand and Universal Projectiles in his left, so someone under the effects of his illusion would see him holding his weapons in their normal hands, while in reality his Great Spear was in his left and Universal Projectile in his right. Amikiri’s hundreds of hours of practice with both of these weapons allowed him to wield both of them with no visible difference in his effort. This would all be completed before the Hyuuga exited the area of his Smoke Bomb, allowing him to complete all of this without Joro seeing.

He would continue to charge at Joro, adjusting the direction of his path to follow Joro. Unless Joro moved out of the way, Amikiri’s Universal Projectile would strike Joro after having traveled twenty five and a half meters. When Amikiri was three and half meters from Joro, he would make a peculiar move. To Joro, it appeared as if Amikiri would make a weird thrusting throw with his Universal Projectile, using his right hand, forward at Joro. However, in reality, Amikiri was making a deliberate stabbing motion with his Great Spear that would strike Joro in his abdomen (115 Impact Force).

As all of this happened, Amikiri would be ready to react to whatever Joro threw, figuratively and literally, at him.

WC: 691
TWC: 4304

AP and Stuff:

In the midst of Amikiri's intricate strategy and formidable skill set, Joro found himself enveloped in a shroud of illusion, courtesy of the Hyuuga's False Surroundings technique. Yet, with a sharp eye and keen intuition, Joro remained vigilant, meticulously analyzing the subtle cues that betrayed the illusion's facade. Detecting the disguised weapons poised to strike, Joro adjusted his defense, readying himself to evade the impending assault. With a blend of agility and precision, Joro maneuvered gracefully, dancing out of harm's way as Amikiri closed in for the attack, by side stepping to his left. Seizing the moment, Joro launched a calculated counterattack, aiming to exploit any vulnerabilities in Amikiri's defense with a swift and decisive strike across the wrist with a power of 67 and 135 speed . Throughout the intense exchange, Joro maintained unwavering awareness, adapting his strategy on the fly and responding to each of Amikiri's moves with clarity and determination. As the battle raged on, Joro remained resolute in his pursuit of victory, determined to outmaneuver his opponent and emerge triumphant in their low-stakes encounter. With that he would attempt the counter attack but if it didn't work then he would try to put distance between him by jumping back 20 meters and 5 meters high.

WC:209
TWC:3,806
AP Usage:
None
AP Total: 765/850
HP:165/300
TCB Cooldown: 1/4 Posts

As Amikiri felt his energy fade from Hyuuga’s Valor, he would quickly activate Refined Total Concentration Breathing. Based on Joro’s movements, the Shokku seemed to have differentiated the Hyuuga’s illusion from what was really happening, so Amikiri would drop the illusion. As Amikiri was just over six meters from Joro, Joro would start moving 1.5 meters to Amikiri’s left. Unfortunately, this put Joro well away from Amikiri’s Universal Projectile he had thrown earlier.

Once Amikiri had reached the point where he had run a total of twenty two meters, Joro would make a daring thrust at Amikiri’s wrist using his katana. Amikiri would use the Feint technique to completely cancel his past actions of his movement with his Great Spear and instead move swiftly to his left. He would move at about a forty five degree angle, enough so he would be only a tiny bit to the left of running straight at Joro. To defend against Joro’s katana, Amikiri would deflect it using his right arm. A thin shimmer of chakra covered Amikiri’s body as Nise completely protected Amikiri from the attack. This would cause Joro’s counter attack to be unsuccessful, causing the Shokku to take a large leap backwards. Amikiri gave a slight grin. The Hyuuga could now leverage his superior speed and Joro’s locked path of movement to completely win this matchup. The Hyuuga noted the path Joro started to take through the air and would predict a landing point based off of that.

The Hyuuga would immediately start taking a circular path. The path was not perfectly circular, but enough of an ellipse-like shape where Joro would definitely be unable to reach the Hyuuga while the Shokku was mid-air, preventing Joro from pulling any shenanigans to try and ground himself. The path was also shaped so that Amikiri would be a meter past Joro’s landing point by the time Joro was about six meters short of his landing point.

While Amikiri was taking this circular path, he would take a few important steps. First, he would sheath his Great Spear across. Immediately after, he would form the handseals for both his Basic Sealing technique and Flowing Passage. He would withdraw a Universal Projectile with an Exploding Tag attached from his Left Sealing Band would infuse his Great Spear with Flowing Passage, drawing his Great Spear with his right hand. The blade would glow a bright blue, something Joro had seen once before. However unlike last time, this bright blue energy would increase the length of the blade by one meter, giving Amikiri a melee range of up to three meters.

As soon as Amikiri reached his final point of movement, he would turn to face Joro. He would throw his Universal Projectile (210 Throwing Speed, 105 Impact Force, 100 Health) with it’s attached exploding tag a couple of degrees to the right of Joro. He would simultaneously commence a large roundhouse swing with his Great Spear (155 Impact Force, 150 Health) so that the blade would only be a foot or so away from Joro when the Shokku landed. Amikiri would obviously not actually have his weapon make contact with Joro, as to not significantly harm the Shokku.

When the Universal Projectile had traveled just about two meters, the Hyuuga would detonate the explosive tag (100 Power/Speed), which would make it so Joro would enter the outer edge of the explosion right as it finished expanding. However, this would only cause damage to Joro and it wouldn’t knock him off his path. As Joro completed his jump and landed on the ground, Amikiri’s glowing blue blade would be no more than eight inches to Amikiri’s left side of Joro’s chest. The Hyuuga would say, with a slight chuckle and slightly out of breath,  “Well, I’d say that was a pretty good match. What do you think Joro?”

WC: 641
TWC: 4945

AP and stuff:

Joro would take a moment to catch his breath and assess the situation. He would glance over at Amikiri's glowing blue blade, now only inches away from his chest, and then back up at the Hyuuga. With a smirk, Joro would nod and say, "Yeah, it was a good match. You definitely kept me on my toes the entire time. We should do this again sometime, when I'm more experienced. Maybe then I'll actually make you sweat," Joro would let himself have a slight chuckle, as he looked up at the man. Holding the sword above him, he realized if this was a real fight. He would have died, he knew he needed to be better.

Joro would take a step back and lower his head in a bow towards Amikiri. He would then extend his hand towards Amikiri, offering a handshake as a sign of respect for their sparring session. He'd offer the Hyuuga a smile, to show he didn't take anything personally, as the spar was indeed a good one, but Amikiri kicked his ass.

Joro would take a moment to reflect on the sparring session with Amikiri. While he felt that he had put up a good fight, he knew that there were areas where he could improve. For one, he needed to work on his timing and accuracy when it came to dodging and countering attacks. He also realized that he had a tendency to become too predictable in his movements and needed to work on mixing things up to keep his opponents guessing. Joro also knew that he needed to focus more on his chakra control, as he had a tendency to use too much energy too quickly, leaving him vulnerable in longer fights.

Joro would turn to Amikiri and say, "Thanks for the sparring session. It was a great learning experience for me. Your technique with the Great Spear is truly impressive, and I hope to learn from you more in the future. Do you have any tips or advice for me on how I can improve my skills, in the time between our next meeting?" He would then listen attentively to Amikiri's response, eager to hear any insights or feedback that the Hyuuga had to offer.

WC:373
TWC:4179

Upon hearing Joro’s acceptance of defeat, Amikiri would immediately deactivate all of his jutsu and his Byakugan. He would sheath his Great Spear across his back, being careful and deliberate with his movements due to the weapon’s close proximity to Joro. The Hyuuga would mirror Joro’s bow before then accepting his handshake. Amikiri greatly appreciated these simple gestures of respect.

Amikiri would respond to Joro’s kind words with, “Well, it's taken a lot of practice for me to get this skilled with my weapon. Besides what I told you earlier about practicing and trying over and over again, I’ve got one last thing. If you wanna keep jumping around, you have to learn to work around its biggest problems. Whenever you’re mid air, there is no ground to push off of. You’re stuck in the path that you started, so you can’t really dodge any attacks people throw at you. Anyone with basic mathematical knowledge will be able to throw a weapon or set up an attack so it perfectly intercepts your movement. So, I recommend the Lightness Skill technique. It is absolutely fantastic if you’re doing any sort of acrobatics, as it provides numerous benefits.” Amikiri would then activate the technique so he could demonstrate it to Joro.

“For starters, it renders you immune to any damage from falling. Fortunately I’ve never had to use it for that, but if something like a flight jutsu fails you when you’re high up or you accidentally fall off your hundred meter tall golem, this application can come in pretty handy. Next, this technique lets you change how fast you fall.” Amikiri would take a short leap up in the air, only getting a few meters off of the ground, and, using Lightness Skill, would adjust his fall speed to an agonizingly slow speed of one. While still falling, Amikiri would say, “However, arguably the best benefit of this technique is the ability to change your movement path.” Amikiri’s path of movement would suddenly change, as he started to turn and change hsi direction by about forty five degrees. The Hyuuga would then gracefully touch down.

“But by far, my favorite usage of it,” the Hyuuga walked over to a nearby tree and shook it aggressively, causing a storm of leaves to fall to the ground, “is this.” Using Lightness Skill, he took off into the air, doing the physically impossible of jumping off each of the leaves to push himself further into the air. After he reached about ten meters off the ground, he gracefully floated back to the ground, at a speed of around ten. “But be careful, as if you go too high, it’s all over. If you go a mere fifteen meters higher than when you started the technique, you lose all benefits from it and it's a long wait before you can use it again.” The Hyuuga would then touchdown on the ground, with not a scratch on his body.

WC: 493
TWC: 5438

AP and stuff:

Joro would nod in understanding as Amikiri explained the Lightness Skill technique. "That makes sense," he said. "I've been having trouble with that exact problem. I'll have to try out that technique." Joro watched as Amikiri activated the technique and demonstrated it. He was impressed by how effortlessly Amikiri moved through the air. "Wow, you make it look so easy," Joro said with a smile.

"Immune to fall damage? That would be pretty nice. Especially if I find myself in a bad spot. A 100-foot golem is interesting. Never seen one of those yet, I have heard stories though."

"Interesting the ability to change direction would be helpful if I need to counter or simply escape." He would watch as Amikiri would gracefully lower himself back down to earth.

With that, he would then show his favorite part of this technique as he rose tapping each leave as he ascended to 10 meters. "15 meters huh? I would say that should be good enough, I'll have to be wary of how I use it though. I appreciate the tip!"

He made a note to try that Technique out shortly. Could help him on his journey through the ranks of Hoshigakure.

"I appreciate the training, spar, and knowledge you have imparted to me." With that, he would bow to Amikiri once more as a sign of respect.

"I will be looking forward to seeing you again. Wherever that may be. I'm sure it'll be a grand time." With that, he would grab his things and head off home.

As Joro walked back home, he couldn't help but feel grateful for the opportunity to train with someone as skilled as Amikiri. He knew that he had a lot to learn and that he still had a long way to go before he could master the Lightness Skill technique. However, he was determined to put in the hard work and practice that was necessary to become a skilled ninja.

As he walked, he thought about the various missions that he had completed in the past and the challenges that he had faced. He knew that there were many more difficult tasks ahead of him, but he was confident that he had the skills and determination to overcome them.

Eventually, he arrived back at his home in Hoshigakure. He greeted his humbe abode and settled down to rest, knowing that he had a lot of work to do in the coming days. He was excited to see what the future held and was determined to make the most of every opportunity that came his way. He settled down on the balcony with some tea and his notebook jotting down his thoughts.

WC:447
TWC:4626

[Exit]

Claims:
Total WC:4626
+92 AP
+762 to First Form: Thunderclap and Flash rest is from here. A-Rank 2063/2063
+250 to Lightness Skill 250/250 75% Discount from ATF (Taught)
+1500 to Thunder Breathing 1500/1500 25% Discount from ATF (Training)
+1375 to Cloak of Concentration A-Rank 50% Discount from Learning Together 1375/1375
+739 to Flying - Flying Swallow [v7.2] 739/750 25% Discount

As Joro bowed to Amikiri, the dark haired Hyuuga matched the gesture, signaling his equal respect for Joro. Amikiri would train for maybe a half hour more, but realized it was starting to get late. The dark haired man headed home, especially because he wanted to get a good night’s sleep so he could work on a few more missions.

[Exit]

WC: 60
TWC: 5498

AP and stuff:

Claims: