Shikamura Training Facility (Training, NDE, Private)

[Deleted]

{DESCRIPTION}



Rich people stay rich by being cheap. At least that’s how it’s supposed to go. For Hotaka Kaishin, son of the Shikamura family, staying rich wasn’t the goal. So, using his father’s money (not exactly with his permission) Hotaka built a large complex specifically for his Ninjutsu training. A large building in the Konoha style, housing rooms to fit three hundred people, a large kitchen and dining area, a huge recreational room for relaxation and bathrooms that would make a hotel look like a hostel.



Outside, a hundred metre by hundred metre training field, with targets and training dummies is surrounded by twenty metre high walls three metres thick. In the middle of the training area is a three metre by three metre pond that is seven metres deep. Outside the walls and to the east is a small copse of trees and to the north is a river for expansive Suiton training. Not that Hotaka needed the extra water: his Kaishin blood provides him with as much water as he needs.



The best part of the training facility is the live subjects. Hotaka has hired over a dozen homeless people and provided them with rooms and food in the facility in exchange for allowing him to test his techniques on them: only trapping and other non-lethal techniques, nothing that could be a proper danger to them.



The place is kept off the maps, and is the perfect place for secret meetings between allies and teammates.

[Deleted]

The facility was buzzing with the first training session for Hotaka. While he didn’t need anyone to practice on at the moment, the Kaishin heir stood on top of the pool of water, chakra keeping his suspended on the surface. Hotaka was mentally reviewing the various techniques in different release styles that he had chosen. The rain was still pelting down, soaking Hotaka to the bone but with his bloodline, he barely felt the cold. Cold…maybe something to do with the Hyouton release. Not exactly his bloodline, but still something he could do here that others couldn’t. Now, let’s see…

Hyouton - Tsubame Fubuki (Snow Storm Swallows)
Rank: "D" Rank
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: Creates ice swallows to push forth to attack towards the opponent.
Special: "Hand Seals"
Drawback: Must be learned multiple times in order for the user to be capable of truly mastering.
Description: When first learned the user is only capable of creating up to Five Bird like swallows in the size of a large like kunai. The user either creates the snow or uses ice around them in order for the user to create the technique to push forward towards the user. Each time learned the amount of Swallows may increase by five. The maximum number a user is capable of using is Twenty each. Every time the user gains a new Difficulty Class the Maximum number increases by ten.
Limit: Must have the Ice Release

0/10

Hotaka focused and used his Kaishin bloodline abilities to lower the temperature around him, enough to cause snowfall and freeze the pond. Hotaka could have just made them straight up from the air without having to lower the temperature too much, but he preferred to just keep the temperature down and make it the way others would.

The jutsu Hotaka was going for was the Snow Storm Swallow technique. It was a long range, high speed technique that Hotaka thought would be a great fit for his arsenal. Anything close range wasn’t really his style. Keep the opponent away, hit them with everything you’ve got. Though, Hotaka remembered reading that you could only control five swallows at a time, so he would have to double check that and see if he could push that limit.

Shaking himself, Hotaka decided to get back on track with what he was doing. The snow had piled up in a substantial amounts already, so the Kaishin heir tapped into his chakra coil, bringing up his wind and water natures and mixing them together into his ice nature. It was as easy as breathing to him, but the actual focusing into a technique, that was going to be the difficult part. Forming a quick string of hand seals, Hotaka channelled his chakra into the snow building up around the shore of the pond. The snow didn’t make a flock of birds, or fail completely like it could have, but it did explode from the energy put into it, spreading snow around and hitting Hotaka in the face.

Hotaka heard laughing from the other side of the complex, and he turned to see the workers of the facility giggling. Hotaka smiled widely: he didn’t mind them laughing, it helped them see him as more human than their faceless boss. But he decided to focus on his training.

Focusing on the image of a swallow in his mind, Hotaka decided to focus just on making one swallow. It shouldn’t be too hard, it was only one bird. Bringing his hands together, the young heir tapped into his vast store of chakra and began mixing his wind and water natures into his ice nature. Taking that chakra and beginning the hand seals, Hotaka channelled the energy into the snow, carefully this time, and fixed the image of the swallow in his mind and released the technique. A single swallow burst out of the snow, and Hotaka kept a link with his chakra coil. Directing the swallow, Hotaka made it soar across the training facility before he aimed it at one of the targets and made it hit, dead on the bullseye.

Cheers sounded from the crowd watching him, so Hotaka decided to up the ante and imagined three swallows. For the third time, Hotaka brought his hands together and drew on his chakra reserves. It was amazing that he barely felt fatigue from using Ninjutsu, but that came with his focus. Creating his wind and water chakras and mixing them into ice chakra, Hotaka began his hand seal string. Keeping the image of the swallows in his mind as he channelled the chakra into the snow, Hotaka summoned forth another set of swallows. The three birds burst from the snow and flew in perfect formation. Hotaka kept control of them, and the jutsu was easy enough to control, so he kept his control and directed the trio to crash into the ground. Aiming was easy, but it was a spread technique, so it was aim and more keeping the area around his opponents covered.

One final attempt, and then he would move on to something else. Bringing his hands together, Hotaka brought up his wind and water chakras and created his ice chakra. Imagining and focusing on creating five swallows this time, Hotaka channelled the chakra into the snow, finishing the hand seal sequence. Five swallows burst forth from the snow, almost making bird noise as they flew through the air under Hotaka’s control. Hotaka decided to have a little fun and sent them towards his employees. They freaked out a little, but Hotaka cancelled the technique before they got into range, and the swallows turned back into snow and simply covered them in slush.

“Not bad, huh?” Hotaka asked his snow covered workers. It didn’t take long, once Hotaka stopped keeping the temperature cold, the snow melted away in the rain. Hotaka decide to take a brief respite from training, stepping out of the rain and talking with his workers.

[N A T S U M I]

Hmm… +10; Learned.

[Deleted]

• Hyouton - Hyoukeibi no Jutsu (Ice Guard)
Rank: D, C
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: Creates a shield of ice.
Special: "Hand seals"
Drawback: The user must remain still. Can only stand up to three (3) D ranked Taijutsu attacks or lower.
Description: Once the hand seals are finished a stream of ice is being created around the user which begins to form a sphere, the sphere acts as a shield. The D ranked can withstand up to two (2) D ranked Taijutsu/Ninjutsu attacks or lower. The C ranked can withstand up to two (2) C ranked Taijutsu/Ninjutsu attacks or lower.
Limit: Must know Ice Release. Needs a source of Ice.

0/10

Hotaka, after a brief breakfast, had one of his employees fetch him a scroll of Hyouton techniques for him to have a look at. Thanking them, Hotaka rolled out the scroll and found something instantly: the Ice Guard Technique.

“The Ice Guard Technique is a jutsu that creates a sphere of ice around the user,” Hotaka read, “It defends against low level techniques, but can only stand up to three or so attacks before collapsing. The user cannot move while using the technique. Okay, you three, grab swords and meet me out in the field,” Hotaka said to three of his workers before walking back out into the rain.

Finding a good spot, Hotaka crouched onto the ground and closed his eyes. He let his Kaishin blood take hold as he brought his hands together, tapping into his chakra reserves. Sliding his hands through a string of hand seals, Hotaka began to use his Kaishin bloodline and began to attract the water in the air. That was easy: the constant rain made the air in Ame no Kuni heavy with moisture. The water was cooled by his wind nature, and slowly, Hotaka formed a dome of water over his head. The water shimmered with chakra as the Kaishin sent his wind chakra through it, converting the water into ice. But, Hotaka messed up, and as he shifted his weight to see how he was doing, the jutsu broke and the water came crashing over his head, soaking him from head to toe.

His employees laughed as Hotaka spluttered, before he shook the excess water from his long hair and refocused. Instead of creating the ice for the shield from scratch, this time Hotaka used his Kaishin abilities to freeze the ground beneath him, providing him a source of ice to draw from. Then, gathering his chakra, Hotaka mixed his ice chakra for a second time and sent it into the ground. Thinking about a hollow shell, Hotaka quickly formed the string of hand seals for the technique and held the last one. Almost immediately, the ice began to climb up from the ground like some demented parasite clawing at the sky. Hotaka began to feel the strain of maintaining the technique, but he persevered and eventually the shield was formed.

“Okay, someone take a swing at the shield,” Hotaka said, “I want to see how many attacks it can…” Hotaka didn’t get to finish as one of his workers ran up and stabbed at the ice shield, piercing it and almost stabbing Hotaka in the face. The attack also disrupted the chakra flow inside the shield and it collapsed again. “…take.” Hotaka finished as his worker looked sheepish. “Okay, next time, attack in a way that ISN’T going to accidentally skewer me, okay?”

“Yes, sir,” the employee said, standing back by the others as Hotaka gathered himself for another attempt. Holding his hands together, Hotaka tapped back into his chakra reserves, drawing out his wind and water chakra natures and spun them together to form his ice chakra. Sliding back through the hand seals, the Kaishin channelled his chakra into the ice beneath him, directing it upwards and forming the shield as quickly as possible. It wasn’t as hard as it was the previous two attempts, but then again, he was getting used to it now.

Once the dome was completed, Hotaka directed his workers to attack the dome. But this time, slashes only, and aimed so they wouldn’t accidentally cut him open. The first worker attacked with an overhead strike, and hit the shield and the sword bounced off of it. Hotaka felt the attack through his chakra, and the shield buckled and cracked beneath the blow. The second worker attacked with an upward strike, hitting the weakened spot. The attack busted through the shield and destroyed it, and Hotaka felt the chakra connected to it snap and leave him gasping for air. He’d never been on the other end of a defensive technique, so he didn’t know he’d actually ‘feel’ the technique fail. There had to be a way around that…but later.

Hotaka decided on one more attempt. As his workers took their positions, Hotaka gathered his chakra for one more attempt. Bringing his hands together, the Kaishin summoned up a lot of chakra, moving through a hand seal string. Hotaka channelled the chakra into the ground, letting it mix with the ice as he directed it upwards mentally. The shield formed around him quickly, and once the ice closed up over his head, Hotaka yelled at his workers to attack. The three ran at the same time, and Hotaka braced himself for the attacks.

The first attack hit the side of the shield, breaking the ice slightly but the shield held. The second attack hit the front, and the sword got stuck in the ice, but it penetrated the shell and the shield buckled even more. Hotaka tried pushing more chakra into the ice to regenerate it, but before he could make a serious attempt at it, the final attack hit the same place as the first one, completely shattering the technique and leaving Hotaka exhausted. Even with his massive chakra reserves, it was an effort maintaining a construct like that.

“Okay,” Hotaka said, “take five, everyone.” Hotaka got up and stumbled back under cover, thinking about what else he could train today…after he recovered some chakra, of course.

[Father 'Suke]

+10

[Deleted]

Suiton: Rikkido Haji no Jutsu (Water Style: Liquid Grip Technique)
Rank: D Rank
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: Causes water to wrap around the users arms, then stretches forward as a string of water from each arm, two inches in diameter. The water will wrap around the opponent to hold them.
Special: "Hand seals"
Drawback: Also immobilizes the user, since the water must be kept wrapped around the target by the user.
Description: ---
Limit: Must know Suiton no Jutsu (Water Release). Must have a water source.

0/10

Hotaka decided to switch focus from Ice to Water, to provide himself with some variety of technique. Not that it mattered, he was going to be training for the foreseeable future. But anyway, he had one of his employees fetch him a Water technique scroll for him to look at. Thanking them, Hotaka unfurled the scroll and began searching for a new technique to train. After a minute of searching, Hotaka found the Liquid Grip technique.

“The user gathers water chakra and channels it into a water source,” Hotaka read carefully, “The water then attaches itself to the user’s arms, providing him with tentacles to grab hold of an opponent. The user is immobilised while he keeps his opponent trapped, making this technique a double-edged sword if you have multiple opponents. That shouldn’t be too hard,” Hotaka said, rolling up the scroll, before pointing at one of his employees, “You, come with me, I need to know how hard it is to get out of this technique.” Hotaka walked back out into the rain, and moved straight to the water pool in the middle of the complex. Standing on top of the water, unconsciously using the water walking technique, Hotaka took a deep breath.

Bringing his hands together, Hotaka tapped directly into his chakra coil, drawing on his energy and converting it into Water chakra. That process was easy as well, as Water was his dominant element. Moving through the string of hand seals, Hotaka began channelling chakra into the water below him, saturating the water molecules and agitating them, making the water chop slightly under his influence. Finishing the hand seal string, Hotaka held his arms out for the water to wrap around, but instead was rewarded with a spectacular burst of water that didn’t do anything. Hotaka had put way too much chakra into the water for such a simple technique.

Regaining his composure, Hotaka brought his hands together again and tapped into his chakra coil, creating his Water nature. Instead of just letting it all flow into the pool, this time Hotaka controlled the flow of energy carefully, not letting the water react as violently as it did before. Moving through and finishing the hand seal string, Hotaka held his arms out, and two tendrils of water came out of the pool and slip up his arms, making them feel strange. But it didn’t take long for the tendrils to finish wrapping themselves around Hotaka’s arms, and soon he had the technique ready for the next stage.

Telling his employee to run away from him, Hotaka held his water-wrapped arms up carefully. Once the employee had started running, Hotaka struck, flinging his hands in from of him and two thin tendrils, maybe an inch in diameter, flew out from his water-wrapped arms. The two tendrils responded as easily as the snow swallows did, soon reaching their target and wrapping around the employee’s body. But when Hotaka pulled tight on the water tendrils, the employee burst through them like it was…well, like water. Hotaka cancelled the technique, frowning. What had he missed? Why didn’t it work the way it was supposed to?

After a few minutes of thinking about it, Hotaka came to the conclusion that two things went wrong that time. The first was that he hadn’t made the tendrils thick enough to be a viable trapping technique, so he resolved to double their thickness next time. The second was that even if they were thicker, the way his employee passed through them meant they weren’t strong enough. So Hotaka had used enough chakra to make the technique work, but not enough to make it work properly. That wouldn’t be difficult to correct.

Focusing again, Hotaka brought his hands together for another attempt, tapping into his chakra coil and gathering the energy. After converting it into water chakra, Hotaka began the hand seal string, channelling the chakra into the water. The amount of chakra he’d already put into the water reacted to the new energy with vigour, but not enough to explode on him again. Finishing the hand seal string, Hotaka held his arms out, and two water tendrils flew out and wrapped themselves around his arms, giving them the appearance of tentacles. The amount of water was more than before, so Hotaka could focus on making the trapping tendrils thicker than before.

Telling his employee to run again, Hotaka waited a brief second, before throwing his arms forward, and two tendrils two inches thick chased the employee down. Using his mind, Hotaka wrapped the employee right up, before pulling the tendrils tight. This time, instead of bursting through, the employee was caught and found he couldn’t go any further. But this was the drawback Hotaka read about: neither of them could move now, meaning either Hotaka could be attacked or someone could just sever the tendrils with an attack, freeing whoever he had trapped with it. Maybe there was a way around it, but Hotaka couldn’t think of it right now. He was only a Genin, what did he know?

Cancelling the technique, Hotaka went back inside with his employee, after making sure he was alright. Maybe it was time for something a bit more difficult.

[Gohan]

+10

[Deleted]

Suiton: Mizutsume no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Claw Technique)
Rank: D Rank
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: Causes pressurized water to wrap around the users hand, forming a claw.
Special: "Hand seals"
Drawback: None.
Description: Creates a claw around the user’s hand which is pressurized and will allow the user to cut with their "bare" hands. Acts as if it were metal, as the water is both highly pressurized and infused with chakra. Lasts two posts, cannot form hand seals with the claw "on".
Limit: Must know Suiton no Jutsu (Water Release). Must have a water source.

0/10

Reviewing the techniques in his Water scroll, Hotaka thought that so far, he had learnt defensive techniques and long range attacks. Thinking critically about the situation, Hotaka would probably find himself in a situation that would require him to fight at close quarters. Hopefully that would never happen, but it didn’t pay to hope for the best. Hotaka would rather prepare for the worst, so he looked at some close range Water techniques, and immediately found one that could work: the Water Claw Technique.

“The user gathers water around their hand and pressurises it with chakra,” Hotaka read, “The claw will take on the properties of metal, and allow the user to cut with that hand. It only lasts a few minutes, but the technique also prevents the user from performing hand seals for other techniques.” That seemed fairly straight forward, and similar to the Liquid Grip technique he had just learnt. But he wasn’t about to test the cutting power of the technique on one of his workers, so Hotaka left them behind as he set out once more into the rain.

Standing on top of the pool, Hotaka closed his eyes and imagined his hand as a claw. Bringing his hands together, Hotaka drew on his chakra, mixing it into his Water nature before sliding through the hand seals. Once he finished the hand seal string, Hotaka began channelling chakra into the water beneath his feet, and summoned up another tendril of water, which began to wrap itself over his right hand. That was the easy part: now Hotaka began to channel more chakra into the water, trying to shape it and pressurise it. But instead, the water just exploded, leaving Hotaka wetter than before and disappointed. He shouldn’t be having trouble with this technique at all, but something always had to go wrong when he tried to train.

Shaking himself, Hotaka gathered his Water chakra again, bringing his hands together and sliding through the hand seal string. Once he was done, he channelled the chakra back into the water (which by now could probably become sentient from all the chakra he had poured into it), and summoned up another tendril of water that began to wrap itself around Hotaka’s hand. This time, Hotaka decided to add an extra shell of chakra over what was now at best a watery glove. Once the chakra was layered over it, Hotaka focused and began to pressurise the water. It only took a few seconds, but it was still an effort. But now that was done, Hotaka walked over to his training dummies, only a little distance away from the pond. Aiming for the bullseye, Hotaka punched out with the claw…and promptly hurt his hand as the water disintegrated on contact.

Hotaka yelled out in pain as he held onto his bruised hand, thinking about what he did wrong in between shards of pain clawing at his skull. As far as he could tell, he did everything right, but he was pretty sure that the technique was supposed to cut, not explode on him. After a few seconds of thinking, the only conclusion Hotaka could come up with was that he just didn’t pressurise the technique properly.

This time, instead of going back to the pool, Hotaka tapped into his Kaishin abilities. Bringing his hands together, the young Kaishin tapped into his chakra and created his Water nature. Channelling that into the air, Hotaka held his hand out and imagined it being taken over by a claw of water. Hotaka’s Kaishin abilities drew the water from the air in many small spiralling tendrils, slowly covering his hand in pressurised chakra-infused water. Hotaka allowed a few extra seconds than he did before, until his hand actually felt the pressure of the technique. Once he was sure he was done, Hotaka tried to flex his hand. He got a slight twitch of the fingers, but that was it. So far, so good. Now it was time for the final test: Hotaka picked a part of the training dummy, and punched out with his clawed hand.

The claw ripped through the dummy like it was paper, decapitating the poor thing. Hotaka grinned widely with his success, then cut at the dummy again with a chop, slicing it in half completely. Hotaka, not wanting to stop now, moved to the next dummy and cut it in half as well…actually, more like vivisected it. Moving through all of the dummies, Hotaka left various injuries in them, before deciding that he was done with the technique for now. There was potential in the technique, but Hotaka couldn’t push it further than he already had. At least, he didn’t think so.

[Fui]

Eh plus 10

[Deleted]

Deido Nohara no Jutsu (Mud Field)
Rank: D
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: Causes the area (10m x 10m) around the user, given that it is earth and stone, to become mud.
Special: Rat, Dog, Boar
Drawback: It does not work in certain environments, such as tile and metallic floors.
Description: After the hand signs are performed, the user slams his/her hands into the ground. If the environment allows it, the area around the user will become a thick and heavy mud. No chakra is required to maintain the state of the area.
Limit: Earth Release, Water Release

0/10

Deciding to move onto something completely out of his normal elements, Hotaka fetched the Earth Release scroll he had. He decided to let his employees have the rest of the day off, so Hotaka found the scroll and brought it back down before unfurling it. Searching for a technique to train, Hotaka eventually found the Mud Field technique.

“The Mud Field technique does exactly what the name says,” Hotaka read, “Taking Earth and Water chakra, but not mixing it into Wood chakra, the user performs the Rat, Dog and Boar hand signs and channels the two chakras into the ground. If the ground isn’t tile, metallic or something similar, the chakra will loosen and dampen the ground in a ten by ten metre radius from the user and create mud. The technique can’t do much on its own, but is a stepping stone for other techniques.” This was going to be difficult. Hotaka would have to balance his chakra output perfectly with two releases instead of mixing them. This was going to either work out fine or backfire spectacularly.

Heading back out into the rainy outdoors, Hotaka took a spot that would give him the maximum radius. Bringing his hands together, Hotaka tapped into his chakra coil and mentally called up a decent amount of energy. Dividing that energy and converting the two halves into Water and Earth chakra, Hotaka made the Rat, Dog and Boar hand signs, and the chakra flared inside him. Before it released, Hotaka quickly slammed his hands into the ground, letting the chakra rush into the ground and spread out around him. After a few seconds, Hotaka realised that the chakra wasn’t doing anything, so he stopped before he burned through his chakra supply.

Taking a second to recover, Hotaka thought about what he could do to change. Checking the ground with his hand, to see if he had changed the ground in any way. Instead of soft soil, the ground was rock hard. Hotaka must have used too much Earth chakra. Maybe keeping the balance wasn’t the answer.

Hotaka brought his hands back together, and began to gather his chakra again. This time, as he drew out the energy from his chakra coil, he split the chakra and converted it a third of it into Earth chakra, and the other two thirds into Water chakra. Forming the hand seals for Rat, Dog and Boar, Hotaka slammed his hands into the ground. The Water chakra followed the Earth chakra, and Hotaka limited it to only going four metres around him. Continuing the channelling, Hotaka felt the Water chakra shift the ground, and watched as it became looser and browner than before. After a few seconds, Hotaka cancelled the technique and waited for the ground to shift back into normal dirt. Nothing happened: the mud stayed mud. Hotaka touched it, and felt the thick consistency of the mud in his fingers. It was good mud, and it didn’t change back into normal dirt so that was good. The technique didn’t reset afterward, which meant he could keep the mud for other techniques, if he needed them.

Now for the hard part: getting the full radius of the technique. Moving to a new part of the training area, Hotaka brought his hands together and tapped back into his chakra coil. Drawing on his chakra, he divided the energy and created his Earth and Water natures, being careful not to mix them and accidentally make a tree sprout from the ground or something. Once the chakra was ready, Hotaka slid through the Rat, Dog and Boar hand signs before slamming his hands into the ground. Channelling the chakra into the ground, the Earth chakra guided the Water chakra through, and Hotaka forced the energy through to the ten metre mark. The Water chakra began to loosen and soak the ground more than the constant rain had already done. The colour changed into a dark brown as the ground around Hotaka turned into thick mud.

This technique wasn’t as hard as Hotaka thought it was, seeing as he didn’t have to keep his chakra going to keep the ground converted into mud. But, at the same time, there wasn’t a whole lot of use for a technique like this. As Hotaka decided to call it a day and get back to training tomorrow, it occurred to him he might have more to try with this technique.

‘I’ll worry about that tomorrow,’ Hotaka thought to himself as he locked the doors to the facility and headed home to Amegakure.

[Fui]

Learned

[Deleted]

Ninpou: Deido Garou (Mud Wolves)
Rank: "D" "C"
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: Forms 3-5 wolves made out of mud with a hardened outside shell.
Special: “Hand seals”, Hold Ram seal
Drawback: Not very tough, one decent D or C ranked technique will destroy it, depending on the rank of the technique used.
Description: Three wolves made out of mud with a hardened outside shell are created from a nearby source of mud. The outside layer of mud quickly hardens into a solid but thin shell of stone. They can run pretty quickly and can damage much like normal wolves because their claws and teeth are made from sharp stone. D ranked wolves can withstand one D ranked jutsu before they are destroyed. For the C rank two additional wolves are created and they are tougher, able to withstand two D ranked attacks or one C rank before being destroyed.
Limit: Earth Release, must have a source of mud.

0/10

The next day, Hotaka returned to the facility. He decided to let his employees take some time off, so he could have some private training time. Picking up the Earth scroll he had earlier, Hotaka unrolled it and began to search out a technique for him to train. After a few seconds of searching, he found one that sounded great: the Mud Wolves technique.

“With a source of mud,” Hotaka read “the user creates three wolves out of mud. Once the wolves have been created, their skin hardens into solid but thin stone shells. The stone makes their fangs and claws sharp and as dangerous as live wolves. But the wolves are weak to retaliation, making them unwise for long assaults.”

Thinking that creations like that were going to be hard, Hotaka decided to take the slow approach for this one. Heading outside into the rain, he found that the mud field he had created yesterday was still present. Moving to the edge of it, Hotaka did what he always did: he brought his hands together before taking a deep breath.

Accessing his chakra coil, Hotaka brought up a large amount of chakra and converted it into his Earth nature. Focusing, Hotaka slid through the hand seals of the technique, holding onto the Ram hand sign. The Earth chakra flowed out of him, saturating the mud and causing it to churn and bubble. Fixing the image of a wolf in his mind, Hotaka began to draw the mud together and shape it. The mud began to heave up in a blob, shifting and changing as the young Kaishin began to frown as his chakra began to dwindle. Hotaka tried to funnel more chakra from his coil into the technique, but the strain of creating, converting and channelling chakra as well as trying to shape the blob into a wolf was too much. Hotaka’s chakra snapped, causing the mud blob to explode and cover the Kaishin in mud as he collapsed, breathing heavily.

After taking a quick dip in the pool to clean himself up, Hotaka stood, soaking and cold, back at the edge of the mud field. This technique would not break him, Hotaka decided, before bringing his hands together and tapping properly into his chakra coil. As he drew on his chakra, Hotaka could feel his body buzzing with energy. As the energy rushed around his chakra network, Hotaka focused on the image of a wolf in his mind, keeping it in his mind as he slid through the hand signs, forming the Ram hand sign and holding it in place. Hotaka’s chakra rushed into the ground, saturating the mud and made it churn and bubble again. But this time, Hotaka stayed focused as the mud blob began to form, shedding mud as it turned into a snarling wolf. Once the shaping was finished, Hotaka let the skin harden into stone, and the wolf howled as its creation was complete.

Now for the fun part: Hotaka mentally commanded the wolf to turn and face the training dummies. The wolf growled and pawed at the ground before Hotaka let it charge, which it did at speed, letting out a guttural growl as it hit the first dummy it saw and ripped the dummy’s head off with its teeth. Then it began to claw at the dummy’s body, and Hotaka was satisfied he had that part of the technique down. Cancelling it by releasing the Ram hand sign, the wolf stopped and dissolved back into mud.

Taking a few seconds to breath, Hotaka brought his hands back together for what he figured would be his final attempt: three wolves or nothing. Tapping into his chakra coil, the young Kaishin let the energy build up to an insane amount for such a basic jutsu and let that energy rush around his chakra network, converting it into Earth chakra as it went. Keeping his focus, Hotaka imagined three wolves snarling and savage as he slid through the hand signs and held the Ram sign. The chakra rushed out of him and began to form three separate blobs of mud, which began to shape almost immediately. The wolves were formed in a few seconds, legs and tails and faces and everything they needed to be fearsome weapons. As they finished shaping, excess mud sliding off of them, their skins hardened, leaving them as stone as statues. Living, angry statues.

Using his mind, Hotaka directed them to run around the training field, wanting to see how much control he had. The wolves followed his directions without question, not that Hotaka expected any different. Now for the final test: Hotaka directed the wolves to run at the wall, to see how durable the shell was. The wolves turned hard and ran straight for the wall, each one impacting hard and exploding into mud, covering the wall. That told Hotaka that the shells were more to keep the mud from disintegrating as the technique moved around, not for any sort of protection.

Now it was time to rest for a while, before he trained anything else.

[Gohan]

+10