Regrowth [T]

[Molokai]

((Continued from here))

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Chased out of his previous training spot by a pair of unhappy wildlife fanatics, Toru posted up in a vacant lot reminiscent of pre-renovation Kirigakure. Flying through handseals with the speed of one whom has devoted his life to their formation, Toru felt the power to well up within him and coalesce in his hands. In one swift motion, he pressed his palms into the ground and released the pent up energy into the soil. Following quickly on the heels of that energy burst would be the multitude of vines that would be the truly devastating aspect of his technique. They descended into the earth at a rapid pace, only to erupt out of the surface with explosive force a moment later. Four retained their vertical, writhing posture, whilst two flopped to the ground and flexed feebly to ascend with their companions. Toru noticed the two vagabond tendrils and set his will against them.

Limply, slowly, agonizingly, the targeted vines rose. At about half the height of their comrades, a sudden stubbornness came over them and they climbed no further. A thoroughly frustrated Toru closed his eyes and tried with such determined desperation that he found himself whispering aloud to the obstinate growth. They shook, trembled like the legs of one who had been crippled their whole life taking his first steps. The shaking became so violent that they threatened to tear themselves apart with the sheer intensity, but amidst all of this it was realized that with each shake came a little more height. Eventually they did end up standing next to the other vines, but they were tenuous and soft and they lagged behind when Toru commanded the entire group to thrash as one. Toru twisted the mass of tentacles together into a single, flexible trunk and watched wordlessly as the two slow-goers coiled half as many times in twice the time as the others.

He disbanded the column, abandoning his plans to crush what was left of the wall propped up in a corner, and looked solemnly at his dual aggravation. Nothing ever works, Toru thought, feeling particularly defeated. Heaving a sigh, he found the point on his hand that corresponded to the weakest links and pushed as hard as he could with his chakra, hoping to balloon them into a more manageable density. Lo and behold, it worked. Until Toru got excited and lost his grip, sending them hurtling back toward a debilitating regression. However, Toru would not be discouraged. He returned to his previous state of concentration, and watched again as the two vines rose to match the others. With pulsating bursts of chakra unique to each individual vine, they began writhing and wriggling with a disgustingly majestic intensity. Periodically he would send one of them slamming into the ground to create a destructive chaos effect, and felt a smile spread across his face.

With a sickeningly fluid motion, each of the tendrils slipped silently into the sod like the tentacles of some great leviathan returning to the sea. Suddenly, one burst out a few feet from a discarded cinder block and pounced upon it with blinding speed. Coiling around it and whipping it through the air faster than the eye could perceive, he sent it flying into the ground where is disappeared in a plume of dust and debris. Just as fast as it appeared, the vine returned to the confines of the ground. Not even a moment later another pair reached out and snatched the remnants of the block, raising it momentarily into the air due to the momentum of the attack, before plunging back into the darkness, leaving no trace of the block anywhere. The decimated remains of an old bicycle caught Toru's eye and, like a shark leaping out of the water to catch a seal, four vines ascended with the frame and tore it's rusted ligaments to shreds.

[Kama the Popcorn Kage]

+10

[Molokai]

57/70

An thus, all of his vines seemed to be in perfect working order. Now, for the aspect of the tendrils that made them a truly horrific technique. Toru knew that each plant had it's own defense system designed to fend off hungry consumers; thorns, poisons, foul tastes, odors and the like, and he planned to trigger and expand said defenses into something offensive. Within his vines was contained an acid useful for fending off harmful bacteria and other such microorganisms, but not much more than that. Nor was it accessible from the surface of the writhing greenery. He decided that the chakra already present within the vines could also be used to change the poison into something more deadly for larger creatures, and his initial efforts left little results save for tiring him out further. But he could tell, simply by the fact that they were apart of him, that he was close.

His chakra took several moments to dilute down to a few specific proteins located within the inner chambers of the length. At first he found himself taking specific control of every single fluid present, and although he found out that that was a lot easier to control the vines than his previous method, it didn't help to enhance the poison that he knew he could find. Distinguishing between water, chlorophyll, sugars and proteins, he found out how his chakra could be modified to either focus on or exclude each of them individually. That eventually developed into excluding all useless chemicals from his chakra concentration. There were still a multitude of potentially harmful solutions that he had not ruled out, however, and found with great exasperation that it was a complicated process to separate the small trace amounts into something he could concentrate on and enhance. Diligently, he set off experimenting with each one.

One of the chemical compounds that he found potentially deadly was a complicated array of acids and proteins located only in small trace amounts. His first assumption, of course, was that the plant would die if any more than that initial amount became any stronger. However, one cannot win if one does not try, so he bit the bullet and gave it his best shot. Cycling through minor variations in his chakra, so minor that there could have very well had been millions had he not ruled out a large chunk beforehand, he eventually discovered one that matched perfectly the feel and texture of the chemical that he was targeting. Closing his eyes in concentration, Toru fused the chakra and the chemicals into a single energy-packed fluid that he could control at will. Once thoroughly combined, he commanded the chakra to intensify and expand, taking the poison right alongside it.

A sinister sizzling sound erupted from the surface of the vine as a dark, chakra-filled ooze exuded from the pores of the vine in disgusting globs. Black as pitch, with a faintly unpleasant odor, this noxious goo was surely one of the most diabolical things Toru had ever created. Using his chakra to smear the fetid jelly along the entire length of the tendril, Toru soon turned the entire length a metallic purple color with a sickening reflectiveness to it. The concoction seared and hissed whenever it came in contact with something, leaving it with a blighted black mark wherever it made contact. Menacingly the vines arched down, targeting a hapless cement mixer abandoned by those who had given up on this location ages ago, then with a whip snagged the bulk and made quick work of the welded joints. The powerful burning ooze completely fried the rusted stress points, and the remnants fell to the ground in a heap.

[→ Alterity]

+10

[Molokai]

67/70

Toru was close, he could feel it, and judging by the extensive damage done to the various bits of junk lying about, he could also see it. The smell of the poison was foul, and the smell of burnt and smashed remains of his practice dummies only enhanced the odor. He recalled the vines, taking great care to reduce the poison before doing so to prevent poisoning himself. Fatigue was beginning to set in, his body was sluggishly responding to his commands and his eyelids were steadily gaining weight, but he found it within himself to string together one last set of handseals. His palms connected with the ground, sending a burst of life-bringing chakra into the moist, fertile sod. A multitude of vines slithered out of his mud-soaked digits and into the soft earth, where they promptly gained their black coating of burning venom and rocketed with deadly precision toward the surface.

An almost untraceable gooey blur snapped viciously out from beneath the unassuming surface, where they thrashed violently about before returning to the depths from whence they had come. Three tendrils then exploded from the soil, coiled and braided themselves together to form a sort of gigantic bull-whip. This braided bullwhip made quick work of the helpless landscape and left a trail of scorched shrubbery and burning ooze in it's wake. Uncoiling and descending, the column vanished in the blink of an eye, only to be replace by a number of snaking vines sneakily disguised as particularly tall blades of grass. These would, of course, act as a trap to trip up and burn any opponent or living creature unfortunate enough to tread within their range, which could be expanded in a moment. Toru nodded with satisfaction, these new found abilities would definitely prove themselves infinitely useful.

[Kama the Popcorn Kage]

LEarned

[Molokai]

SPOILER: Click to show

Himei no Jutsu (Shriek)
Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: A technique in which the user screams forth in a brilliant fashion to where the opponents around in an area is unable to hear while making their bodies numb creating the feel of non movement for other types of attacks that may occur.
Special: ---
Drawback: The user takes hit by the exact type of technique. Read Descriptions in order to gain a better understanding.
Description: This technique has three separate tiers for both the opponent and the user. Depending on the very range of the attack and where the opponent is what matters for this type of technique. The user's difficulty class is what separates the magnitude of the attack as well. The technique has a range of twenty meters for the basic D Class Ninja. When the user opens up their mouth they concentrate on the very vocal chords of their throat and push forth in all directions a massive scream capable of great damage is thrown out. For every difficulty class the range increases by five meters with a maximum of forty meters for S Class. For any opponent that is within one third of distance from the user the opponent is unable to hear for three posts, feels nautious for two posts, and can mot move for one post. For any opponent that is within two thirds distance from the user the opponent is unable to hear for two posts, feels nautious for one post. For any opponent that is within three thirds distance from the user the opponent is unable to hear for one post. No matter what Class the user is in the user is unable to hear for three posts.
Limit: Sound Release

0/20

A few hours of rooting down in the soft, fertile Mist village sod had returned Toru to a moderate state of disrepair, which he hoped would be enough for at least one more technique. His unusually strong voice was one thing he had always noticed but had never really given much thought to up until that point, and that was what he focused his attention on. An agonizing recollection of screaming fits of meaningless rage brought with it the idea of harnessing that ridiculous scream capacity into something controllable and useful. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, tasting the humidity that he had become so accustomed to, and allowed the very same rage that once ruled his thoughts to overcome him yet again. What had been sealed for years appeared in his mind as a physical buildup of pain, loneliness, fear and sorrow, growing and flowing until it filled his heart and lungs.

The subsequent explosion of vocal fortitude and post-traumatic stress was resonant and ear-splitting, sending a flock of carrion crows that had been eying him curiously flapping awkwardly away, cawing indignantly. Unfortunately, though, it was loud and obnoxious, and utterly useless. Chakra, of course, would be the answer to his dilemma, as it was for most anything that his weak physicality couldn't handle. Perhaps recalling painful childhood memories wasn't the healthiest or most efficient way to train, but until he figured out how to do it right he wouldn't have a choice one way or the other. Chomping down on his lower lip, he formed a short string of handsigns and sealed them in the blink of an eye, focusing his potent life energy in his throat, and thinking back to his past. Suddenly, his old mentor was standing over his shoulder, whispering into his ear. Rage is a poison, he had said, If you let it get to your heart, you will surely perish.

Another scream echoed throughout the unoccupied courtyard, seeming only marginally louder, and leaving him with nothing but a discomfort in his throat and a ringing in his ears. Toru breathed in deep once again, holding it tightly in his lungs and clenching his eyes shut. Suddenly, he was in a vast grassy plain surrounded by buildings that seemed to have been grown rather than built. The grass seemed a lot taller in this place. Or perhaps Toru was simply a lot shorter. Another member of his clan, this one apparently female with calm wooden eyes much like his own, knelt before him, looking him straight in the eye despite her crouched position. Her lips moved, and words formed in the empty space between them. People fear us, sapling. They see us and they know that our power is great, and yet they do not know, and that is why they are afraid. That is why they hate us. And Toru hated them. They mocked him for his power and he showed them what it could do. . .

Another explosion sent ripples through the high grasses, now finally returned to their normal length. The reverberations abounded, each one mocking him, screaming back at him as if his pain were a childhood game. Soon the echoes of his scream became echoes of the scream of another, as materialized before him was the corpse of his childhood enemy. He was looking at a pair of hands, the left one black, the right one white, both soaked in warm, thick liquid. The hands were his own, and the liquid was blood. The blood belonged to the boy on the floor, the boy who had laughed at him for his odd looks, the boy who now laughed no more. Toru had killed him with roots, the roots that his mother taught him to use, the roots that were his power, the power that they mocked, the power that killed him. But they did not see this as power. They saw it as monstrosity, and they recoiled in fear. They screamed again, and Toru screamed with them, and somewhere in Kirigakure a window shattered.

[I C H I R O™]

+10