Put through the paces [Physical Training]

[Coal]

(1) Gate of Opening - Muladhara: The Root Chakra
Rank: "C"
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: Allows the user to perform extraordinary prowess using the extra power granted from the Celestial Gate.
Special: ---
Drawback: (Fortitude 15) User could become Fatigued for the rest of the encounter plus 1 minute.
Description: Picture Located at the base of the spine. Its function is survival and grounding, its inner state is stillness and stability, its color is red. Its stones are: Garnet, Ruby, Onyx, and Obsidian. This Chakra is the Earth Chakra; it deals with Survival and is blocked by Fear. Balancing this Chakra gives energy to the physical body, controls fear, increases overall health and helps in grounding.

Takes 1 Movement to Activate.
+2 Pain Threshold Bonus to Will.
+4 morale bonus against Fear.
+2 enchantment bonus to Weapon Damage.
+2 enchantment bonus to Movements.


Unless the user wishes otherwise, the technique ends at the end of an Encounter. Each round the technique is maintained, the user suffers 2 points of Gate Point Damage. Mastery: Learning this technique a 2nd time, the user can activate this gate without sacrificing movements for the purpose of using a more powerful gate, without actually performing this Technique or gaining any of the penalties. User cannot otherwise perform the Technique without sacrificing movements.
Limit: Must be a practitioner of The Eight Celestial Gates.

[0/10]

Shirtless with the sun beating down upon his bare skin near the mid-morning, Kyuushu paced the small arena he used for training Souten and himself more of a horse yard than anything, where he could put himself and his mount through the paces. Naginata, bow, quiver, and his shirt were either propped against the fence or hung over it, Souten watching from the other side so that he would not be hurt, and finally Kyuushu stopped pacing somewhere near the center of the field. No time like the present I suppose. I just have to activate it by opening the chakra at the base of my spin, right? Easy enough.

It was always good to start with the correct base to focus the chakra when dealing with the physical, a fundamental that Ma Gunba had taught him, although that was more applied to combat with a weapon, but the same principle seemed to work for Shinobi training as well. His left foot would slide over the grass, scrapping the earth with a short-lived sound of sole dragged over earth, and then halting at shoulder width. Both arms were brought down at nearly ninety-degree angles at his sides, the hands balled into fists and the muscles tensed. Every muscle in his torso was tensed as well, showing a body that was built for combat, but bearing very few scars.

Next was the mental portion of the training, the focus was pivotal in opening any of the gates he had been told by a Shinobi mentor during the academy, and it would not work if his mind was not in the right place. The need for survival was key, but without the fear that accompanied that need to survive, and that was a difficult balance to create. Turning inward for a moment, he would focus on that drive to survive, finding something that gave him the need to stay alive, but trying to filter out the fear that would drive that need. He returned to the day he was pulled from his home, his father murdered and the estate in flames, still so vivid to his mind even to this day.

Ma Gunba was there, grabbing him by the waist, lifting him as he screamed for his father. Seiryuu Byakku had been advisor to the Daimyo, a strict and doting father, and a man of honor; but honor had been no shield. Shinobi hid in the trees and on the rooftops, bringing flame and death, and they had chased them until the military had arrived. Ma Gunba had held off a few, but two had closed in on him, the fear gripped his throat. Kyuushu was reliving it, but he could not let it take hold, in the body of himself once again as a child, he let rage take the place of fear. Pure anger suffused his body, ignited his chakra, and he screamed again at those who advanced. The memory waivered and then failed…

Stone, dirt, and grass rose toward the sky. Deep red chakra lifted from his body in elongated liquid ribbons, evaporating once they were a foot or two from him. For a time, he could not hear a sound, but suddenly he could hear someone screaming in the distance, then he realized that someone was him. The raw rage that filled that scream surprised him, but he could not stop, the emotion pouring from him like a flood, while his chakra exploded outward. His body was light itself, bursting with power, and fear could not penetrate his enraged chakra. He looked at his hands as the chakra bubbled and vanished from his skin, the ribbons lifting from his arms, never too far from his body. This was the First Gate.

Reluctantly, he released the energy, the last of the chakra leaking away from him. His body was too powerful to feel the effects of releasing the Gate, merely flexing his hands and hopping from one foot to the other, a sheen of sweat had appeared, although it had only been a minute at most. “What do you think about that, Souten?!” He turned to face his stallion, who stared at him with eyes that seemed to know so much, and resembled pools of dark blood. The horse shook its head and started to eat grass, the black coat glossy in the mid-morning sun. “Ah, you have the right of it. There’s much more training to be done!” He was not even close to done!

[Cadoc]

+10 1 post graded

[Coal]

(1) Gate of Opening - Muladhara: The Root Chakra
Rank: "C"
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: Allows the user to perform extraordinary prowess using the extra power granted from the Celestial Gate.
Special: ---
Drawback: (Fortitude 15) User could become Fatigued for the rest of the encounter plus 1 minute.
Description: Picture Located at the base of the spine. Its function is survival and grounding, its inner state is stillness and stability, its color is red. Its stones are: Garnet, Ruby, Onyx, and Obsidian. This Chakra is the Earth Chakra; it deals with Survival and is blocked by Fear. Balancing this Chakra gives energy to the physical body, controls fear, increases overall health and helps in grounding.

Takes 1 Movement to Activate.
+2 Pain Threshold Bonus to Will.
+4 morale bonus against Fear.
+2 enchantment bonus to Weapon Damage.
+2 enchantment bonus to Movements.


Unless the user wishes otherwise, the technique ends at the end of an Encounter. Each round the technique is maintained, the user suffers 2 points of Gate Point Damage. Mastery: Learning this technique a 2nd time, the user can activate this gate without sacrificing movements for the purpose of using a more powerful gate, without actually performing this Technique or gaining any of the penalties. User cannot otherwise perform the Technique without sacrificing movements.
Limit: Must be a practitioner of The Eight Celestial Gates.

[0/10]

Kyuushu focused his energy on the small of his back, on the Gate that held Muladhara, the Root Chakra. For now, the Gate was closed and he pictured it like a gate, made of wood and locked, the key being Survival need without Fear. That memory is the key to this, but what was the part they helped? When did I feel that rage? Kyuushus stood before that gate in his mind’s eye, gazing at Muladhara, and rubbing his chin before stepping up to that inner representation. Placing a hand upon the wood, he could feel the power pulsing from the other side, struggling to be let free, now that it had been freed before. Intoxicating.

Behind him was that memory again, clear to his mind’s eye, standing bright and violent like a portal into hell as the buildings burned and the people screamed. No sound came from it, he was not in that memory yet, but the answer was within it. Like a maestro with his orchestra, Kyuushu moved the memory until it was at the right area, although not exactly at the right spot, and then he stepped in. Everything was aflame, the screams crisp in the midday air, while the orange glow gave no light in the blaze of the sun, only unbearable heat. Areas of the world were black, swallowed by unsight, but the places that could be seen were awful to gaze upon. Ma Gunba carried him from the burning building, Kyuushu jogging with the man to keep up, until they ended up away from the Daimyo’s manor.

From the darkness the Shinobi came, although Ma Gunba held off what he could, two had managed to slip around and confront a young Kyuushu, blades in one hand. He screamed then and he saw the glow there in that moment, when the memory caused utter fear in him, and within that glow it took the shape of a key imposed by his mind. No fear held him now and he could see it, reached out and took it, then left the memory without a look back. If he looked back, he worried that the fear would creep into him and fill the space that the rage was not. Before the gate once again, he placed the key in a basic lock, turning it sharply, and hearing the click. The doors began to open, and he was pushed from his mind, leaving them so. They would never be closed again.

His eyes had been closed when he had delved into his mind, but now his eyes opened wide and he pulled the power of the Muladhara Gate into him, only a touch, just a bridge. He was confused at this, the lack of power from before, wondering where the deluge was that previous entered his bones. In his mind he could see the bridge and on the other side stood another gate, this one made of Brass. It was the Second Gate Swadhisthana, and it was his next destination. Returning to himself, he released the bridge created by Muladhara, feeling nothing at all despite having touched it. Perhaps it was best to think of this as a highway instead.

[Christoff]

+10 TP Learned