Uesugi's Training {Training/Private}

[R i k i c h i]

0/70 TP

Befuddled by his inability to use the technique as he was supposed Uesugi stared at his hands for a long time while Ickichumo stared thoughtfully at him. It seemed improbable that he’d come so far only to have the ingenuity that had come to him after so long simply prove to be a dude.

“Have you ever thought that maybe it was supposed to work differently? Maybe that part of your body has to be touching the person?”

Just like that the idea hit him. As he’d done before the boy nursed the chakra within his body into a vibrant torrent of power that he only guided rather than controlled and once it he felt his entire body tingling with the energy he grinned darkly at the man who had given him the thought rolling around his head. A lashing kick whipped out towards Ickichumo, who as expected rose his arms in a cross-bar defense to whittle away at the force of the blow, but that had never been the intent of the sudden outburst of violence. When chakra came flowing through Uesugi’s leg in a steady stream he couldn’t help laughing even as the energy surrounding him faded away. Panting even through his joy the boy dropped to his knees with an amazed expression on his face, “I can’t believe it actually worked!”

“Yea, well….you lost it after one kick. Seems pretty useless if ya ask me.”

The comment was typical of the perennial slacker, but nothing could dampen the mood on the peppy, Genin at this moment. A quick thrust of an open palm which was backed by a smiling face proved that. Much quicker than he had any other time, Uesugi’s body was soon burning brightly in all areas as the jutsu covered his body within the blink of an eye. That was not to say the effort wasn’t substantial for his concentration could not wane for a moment during the physical competition between his former teacher and himself, but he managed it for a good five minutes before finally exhaustion overwhelmed him…it was strange though. The fatigue was only physically draining while his reserves of chakra seemed moderately full, certainly nowhere near topped off, but he felt as if he could continue at least for another hour without having to stop. At least if it were solely based upon his chakra stamina.

It must be from all the energy I gathered from Ickichumo-sempai.

That statement was a little hard to believe for man in question stood on both feet with eyes unwavering as he waited for his student to rise once again; the terminator might have been a more equal opponent for the lughead! Not wanting to be seen as second-class, Kenchu rose to his feet, closed his eyes after clasping his hands together, and allowed the comforting cloak of chakra smoothly encompass his being before opening his eyes once more….just as Ickichumo punched him square in the chin. Falling back after the unexpected slugging the younger nin retaliated with a hoarse cry and attack of his own, but the effort only score Ickichumo having bruised forearms if that. It seemed the strain proved by maintaining the shield of chakra had dissipated some for he managed a good half hour of trading blows and absorbing Ickichumo’s energy before dropping face-first into the ground while putting his fingers up in a sign of defeat. “Call it a day. We can go at again tomorrow, alright?” Ickichumo said, a few scratches on his face gave credence to the fact that this hadn’t been a cake walk for him entirely.

Kenchu nodded and drug himself to his feet before setting towards home. Another day of training completed.

[R i k i c h i]

0/70 TP

A good month had passed since Uesugi had managed to actually manifest the impressive jutsu of his own finding. It had been no easy task and each day he spared several hours of devoted meditation to clearing his mind so that he might be better able to do so in heat of a moment. Today he was curiously staring at two tow-headed boys, one of whom was picking their noses in the afternoon. The sky blazed in oranges that were mostly hidden by the murky clouds of above which were only a testament to the murky nature of Kirigakure, but the blazes could not have matched Kenchu’s eyes as he glared at his practice partners.

“Pay attention, I’m going to show you something cool.” he barked just as he placed his hands upon the heads of both boys. In an instant his body was aflame garnering the gasping of the two children, but Uesugi blocked the noises from his mind as he concentrated more on the vacuums which now existed in both his right and left palms—each pressed into the soft ruffles of the boys’ heads. “That’s it…just keep still.”

Of course being little boys they proved to do the opposite. No sooner had the older shinobi uttered those five supposedly soothing words the pair of younger academy students took off towards the sunset forcing Uesugi to give chase. No amount of yelling penetrated the giggling boys, but they were no match when the boy pounced upon them and placed the still glowing palms of chakra draining digits upon their heads. Quickly they began to whimper softly as the swarm of energy left them and flowed easily into Uesugi himself; he had wanted to see if he could manage more than one person at a time. With a boot to the butt for each, he sent them on their way while wondering how he could further practice his craft. That was when…

“Think fast!”

Wheeling around Kenchu found himself two balls of light that glowed brightly of blue. It seemed comparable too…Chakra?! Without thinking his hands were up to drain away the small spheres of light into them, but he missed the four orbs speeding towards miss midsection. It seemed as if they’d crash into him at full force when at a foot away from making contact with his body he watched as they too, broke down and drained into his being suffusing him with small packets of power. Almost immediately he released the technique before it took its toll too intensely upon him while Ickichumo walked over with that jaunty gait of his. “Not bad, not bad at all…too bad I’m not done!” he shouted firing several more spheres at an unprepared Uesugi.

Groaning at how his body ached after a long day he busied himself raising the shield of chakra over his skin as easily as he might clothe and watched as the haphazardly thrown projectiles disappeared into nothingness. His quickness with the jutsu had been trained well in the past days and this exercise only proved to enhance it further. Before any orb got too close he could raise his hand or simply allow the ball of energy to float within range of the draining jutsu’s effects and watch it disappear. Not matter what happened it appeared as though he was impervious to chakra based attacks at this point. It wasn’t until the sun had disappeared and the winds howled with the chill of the night that his teacher patted him to head home.

[Naota]

+67, a bit repetitive but I love your vocab.

[R i k i c h i]

(OOC: Is it okay if I ask staff or someone for advice on how to train certain techs? Bit hard for some things)

67/70 TP

Baka! Training ain’t about whether you actually know the technique, Ickichumo ranted earlier, …ya gotta be able to use it in an instance or else all that knowledge means nuthin’…Baka yaro!

The last hour had been hell because of the implication behind those words. A jutsu he’d mastered a week ago had driven him to his tortured lifestyle of cringing while sneaking a passing glance over his shoulder. Lo and behold through the damp air of the Hidden Mist came a flying ball that glittered like a tiny sun, floating harmlessly through the air towards the child’s head. One of those harmless balls had left him with a nice goofball sized bruise on his hip. All the anger that had dwelt in his thought a second ago evaporated and instant later it was as if he’d never had a thought in his life. His mind was so clear that he could almost see the rippling blackness through his closed eyelids as the weave of chakra blinked into existence and snuffed out the small ball that had been fluttering towards him at breakneck pace.

A light sweat covered his face as he let out a sigh of relief…

“Too slow!”

And seconds after those words reached his ears he was clocked by the blinding light which he’d believed he’d absorbed with his advanced chakra technique…or would have had he not managed to raise a still glowing arm up in time to catch the chakra missile. Face paling with fear as he realized this wouldn’t cease until the end of the day, he tore through the village square with the jutsu burning away at his chakra pool. Even as he ran he was vaguely aware of floating balls zipping through the crowd and being molding into nothingness by his own Chakra Vacuum technique. It appeared if he simply kept it up until he got home then all would be well; easier said then done. In fact things became wretchedly difficult when out of thin air—or what would have appeared to be thin air—Ickichumo planted himself in front of the fleeing Genin’s path with a heinous look in his eye. No adult reserved the right to look at a young boy like that, “Ya! Ya!Ya!Ya! Ya! YA!!”

With each shot came a fluttering ball that Uesugi had to consciously take into the bubble he’d basically created around himself and each strike revitalized his depleted reserves of chakra while his body slowly began to feel heavier and heavier. Shamefully of all the men and women who happened to be passing by…none chose to help the obvious ‘damsel in distress’. By the fourteenth shot Kenchu was on the ground heaving, no longer ever paying attention as the ball disappeared into nothingness or rather sucked into liquid light by his vacuum while he remained just inches before laying flat out on the ground.

In that casual manner of his Ickichumo stopped the onslaught of glittering suns from hell and walked up to his former student with an outstretched hand, “Alright, alright. C’mon you…” he mumbled as if the nearly collapsed child had not been his doing and all the while the villagers of Kirigakure passed on as if nothing had taken place…

…certainly not the thorough pummeling of a child in vain attempts to train him. Of course not, that’s silly. In the ‘Blood Mist’ as it was once known, pain was a shinobi’s teacher and to many that was the way it should be.

[Naota]

+3 Learned. It's much more than beautiful words, you have to thoroughly detail the usage of chakra, or your exact movements to a T. Redoing a technique you did in one shot can usually lower scores because that makes your character seem like a know it all. You didn't do it this time which significantly raised your grades, which is nice. My only problem was the first post where he did it by mistake. It just seemed a bit unnatural. No biggy though your a great roleplayer, just keep doing you.

[R i k i c h i]

Chakura Sabaki Koudo (Advanced Chakra Drain)
Rank: B
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: The user expands their control over the Chakra Absorption technique, increasing their draining potential.
Special: --
Drawback: The user still must touch their opponent either by a chakra connection (such as strings) or bare skin in order to drain their chakra.
Description: The user focuses a greater quantity of chakra into their hands than normal, in order to create a much stronger ‘vacuum’ effect of chakra absorption. This allows them to drain chakra at a much faster and heavier rate, akin to ten percent of the person’s chakra being drained per full six seconds they are in contact with the foe. Lesser amounts of contact, such as passing touches, drain lesser amounts. The chakra conversion is weak, however, and only one half of the chakra drained is supplied to the person who absorbs it.
Limit: Must know Chakra Kyuuin. Universal Ninjutsu.

0/70 TP

Nearby Ickichumo blew into the wind as if spitting something from his mouth. Uesugi didn’t really care, but the noise itself was bothersome given that he was trying to concentrate his energies into one focal point. In the days following the barbaric training exercises his so called mentor had devised, Kenchu began to realize that perhaps he was going about this the wrong way. Perhaps he should have been trying to learn to perfect the Chakra Absorption itself, not manipulate it into variations of the original—you couldn’t fly after learning walk, you had to learn how to run first.

Run was what he was striving for, yet all he’d managed so far was to flop…miserably. His hand quivered as every fiber of his being poured into the flame of chakra, the vacuum that now distorted the air hovering above his palm. The river method he’d used for the original technique did not work with higher quantities of chakra and try as he might, strain his body as he might he could compact all the energy into an endless tunnel that sucked energy into. He’d been trying to manifest that all day.

Now as he’d done over a thousand times earlier, he held his hand out and channeled all of his energy, imagining it as a wild raging sea of chakra flowing towards a single point in the middle of his palm where it would spiral just as untamed for a singular purpose. The effort made him sweat as he felt every orifice of his being contribute to the donation of chakra and before long the absorption technique had formed, but Uesugi did not stop there for it was not his goal to hold there. Gritting his teeth he drove more chakra into the swirl that existed in his palm, felt as it was like throwing a rubber ball against concrete as each attempt crashed unsuccessfully against the dense chakra wall that would allow no more input to enter. He had to succeed. Even though he’d always been taught to never force a technique, he forced now with everything he had. Pushed against his body’s warning, feeling as sweat slicked his skin until it bronzed in the afternoon light and finally the flame flickered out leaving him to slump onto the floor with his tongue hanging from his mouth like a dog.

Ickichumo clicked his teeth lazily as if trying to decide if something needed to be done. It seemed the ‘expert’ didn’t see a need for anything to be done for after five minutes Kenchu’s line of sight drifted high into the sky and he heard not even a shuffle of motion as he lay strewn in the dewy grass of his home village. It was very possible he could die one of these days under the older nin’s supervision.

[R i k i c h i]

0/70 TP

When he was finally able to move, the thought of trying again made his stomach turn, but before he could even manage to set himself upright Ickichumo was standing next to him, eyes blazing with innovation; those were signs that something unpleasant was to follow. Bitterly unpleasant.

“I’ve been thinking. There’s life in trees, right? Well, why not try sucking the chakra outta the swamp trees…like a weedwhacker”

As delirious as Kenchu was even he couldn’t help the narrow eyed glare he cut the spiky haired Chunnin after making such a callous statement. Murdering nature for the sake of progression hardly seemed a true ninja’s way of training, but his protest was cut down before it even reached his lips for Ickichumo was a man of little patience…and even littler tolerance for disagreeing views. Quarter of an hour later Uesugi was tossed roughly against the slumping trunk of a ‘Weeping Willow’, so bent at its midsection it appeared to be bowing towards anyone that passed through the entrance of the clearing. Of course it might have been heaving with the smell of fecal matter that hung over the marshy area, but what did plants know of such matters, “Get at it. Now.”

Not a suggestion, but an order.

With a grunt and a pat at the seat of his pants Uesugi stood before the yielding tree with sympathy in his eye, but the excitement of trying something new suppressed this feeling before long. Clasping his hand gently together, he drew within himself, reaching out to the floating dismembered bodies of life energy within himself and beckoned them into one endless stream of…something, towards his palm, which had instinctively stretched out and touched the bark of the tree. Even as his hands trembled against the rough outside he could feel the brimming life force that churned within the body of the towering tree and pressing even tighter against the bark he focused his chakra into a hole, a pit in which the tree’s energy would rush to fill greedily this absence of chakra. To his great disappointment he still barely managed a trickle to flow from the tree, nothing substantial to the wealth of vibrant substance that coursed through its veins.

Sucking in a deep breath he drew fiercely upon his own chakras, forcing into ‘funnel’ he’d made and the already existing vacuum churned violently in his mind’s eye and it was as if there was a crashing in the earth, but when the jumble of collision of chakras within his body ceased…the absorption hole had grown…larger. Energy drew in hesitantly at first, but then it was as if a searing torrent ran through him, overwhelming him until he lost control of the jutsu all together and everything fell apart leaving his hand blank and his bank of chakra substantially depleted.

“This was a bad idea…” he mumbled as he slumped tiredly against the tree, which seemed no more aware of his added weight than it did the smell of the marsh.

[R i k i c h i]

0/70 TP

Morning rained in with rousing rays of light that abruptly stirred the slumbering Kenchu. They had spent the night out in the light roofing of the trees it seemed…rather he had stayed out in the forest over night. Ickichumo was nowhere to be found and no sign of him spending an uncomfortable night amongst nature was present. Grumbling about how adults had become very unreliable Uesugi stood, deciding to busy himself with the art of opening himself to the energies around him. It seemed each phase of the chakra absorption technique he’d battled with rather than simply allowing the energies to flow through him, perhaps it was here that his folly lay. Awkwardly he seated himself cross-legged before the same willow from yesterday, placing his hands upon it, yet not doing anything at all—he simply reveled in the silence and only opened his mind to the surrounding area.

Life hummed all around him in the morning and he could feel his body tensing as it normally would when he tried to utilize his chakra, after all that was the essence of ninjutsu, the molding of chakra to perform acts that were beyond the scope of human limitations. Maybe if I just soak in everything…like a sponge then I’ll understand. And sit he did. The early light of dawn intensifying yet he did not move, only rested his hands upon the bark of the tree and allowed the very core of the natural world flow through him as his chakra might and yet he refrained from forcing it to bend to his will.

It was all connected. He felt an oneness with everything, the essence of everything that he had not quite understood before, but now it came to him easily and it made him smile with happiness as he opened his eyes and slowly folded his palms against one another. Immediately the flow of chakra which he’d been forcing into a vacuum through which he could absorb chakra simply flowed through him, but not in the typical sense of a river. As he shifted his palms towards the tree without touching it he remained calm, his breathing even as slowly the blaze of blue surrounding his hands intensified slowly, growing in strength with each passing second. Oddly enough the bark before him shimmered brightly as well, resonating with the pulsing aura from the boy’s palm. The air was charged with energy and for a moment Kenchu could feel the flow of the tree’s energy, from every inch of its being coursing towards his palms as if the radiating chakra served as catalyst for a gathering.

He barely took notice of the beads of sweat slithering down his face and neck as concentration consumed his whole being. Keeping his own chakra simply churning in one direction, flowing with its own natural rotation while maintaining all of his chakra into his palms was a feat that was certainly new to him and he had not been prepared for the effort that would go into it. Soon his body betrayed him and the connection with the flow of everything ceased and he could barely keep his palms raised much less channel anymore of his chakra towards the effort of maintaining the bond he shared only a few moments ago, but it had been amazing…simply amazing.

[R i k i c h i]

0/70 TP

For the time being it seemed that his training was progressing soundly, but as the more he trained, the more he began to realize just how futile the effort was becoming. He’d finely come to understand the nature of chakra. Before he would funnel his energies into his hand demanding that all the life force in the world flow toward him, but his epiphany had come in that chakra was not to be commanded. Only channeled.

To channel was not to command, only to surrender. He knew this now, yet each morning he sat wishing to expand his chakra vacuum jutsu. Everything around him hummed with energy yet he was only fed scraps trickles. Even as he concentrated as best he could, remembering to relax and use his own chakra as a beacon rather than a vacuum as the name implied. Yet after some time his growth discontinued and he grew frustrated. One morning after a month of fruitless meditation he ran into an old friend of his from the Academy. Michira.

A lanky sandy haired boy with tilted eyes and a hooked nose. He had the face of a foreigner, but everyone knew his family line had been traced here since the first Mizukage. “Still a Genin, Uesugi-kun?” asked the recently raised Chuunin. He slowly becoming a man people wanted to look up to. Not at all like Uesugi who spent his time brooding and attempting to master complicated techniques.

“Shut up…I’m having trouble with this one technique. The Chakra Vacuum Jutsu.” Uesugi responded dejectedly. No one else was in the village park reserve today. That was odd considering the usual mugginess of the area seemed to have subsided for the moment. “I’ve learned to surrender myself to chakra yet I can’t gain any further improvement from the technique.”

It wasn’t until he finished speaking that Uesugi noticed the smug smirk on the other nin’s face, “What?” he asked suspiciously.

“I actually already know that jutsu—mastered it in fact. To the highest degree.” he gloated, his beak of a nose becoming more prominent as he grinned, “I could show you, but you’d have to do my laundry for a week, deal?”

With no choice, Uesugi sighed and nodded his agreement. It was midafternoon by now and with the park to themselves there was no need to worry about getting scrutinized for training in the park. Michira surprisingly knew what he was missing: an actual test subject.

“Ninjustu isn’t just something you can do over and over on your own. You need to experiment with it. See how it feels in real life.” he explained taking his stance some distance away from Uesugi. “Now try to pull my chakra from me while I try to pull yours away. Are you ready?”

Before Uesugi could say anything the boy shot forward forming, palm ablaze with blue fire. Thinking quickly Uesugi guided his own chakra to his hand and raised it to meet the onrushing palm of Michira. For a moment the two palms sat inches from one another, repelled by the forces of the opposing chakra. That, however did not last long as strength immediately began to stream from Uesugi making him gasp in surprise. Sensing his colleague’s defeat Michira pulled back with a frown.

“What happened? You didn’t even try!”

“I did…it’s just…” Uesugi tried to say, but what was there to say? He had failed. Looking away he expelled a nervous breath before taking his stance again, this time instantly drawing forth the chakra vacuum.

It was different this time. Now he focused only on the flame in his hand. Bubbling with his own spiritual energy, all he had to do was reverse the flow of energy in his favor. As before, Michira rushed it palm first and met Uesugi head on. For a moment the two were locked as the contest was a little more even this time. To describe the feeling was a task beyond ability—at least for Kenchu. It was like standing over the edge of a cliff, arms spread wide, just waiting for the wind to knock you into the chasm below. One move of your own and you would find yourself falling head long to your demise. So it was with the battle of Chakra vacuums. Uesugi concentrated on making his own chakra funnel smooth and flawless, leaving nothing but a bottomless hole which he would use to steal his opponent’s energy away.

Then their palms touched and it was over. Blackness swallowed him whole.

[R i k i c h i]

0/70 TP

“Kenchu?....Kenchu! Wake up…Kenchu!”

Michira’s nasally voice called to him from beyond the void of unconsciousness. Uesugi would have ignored it had it not been for the accompanied punching that followed each cry for him to come to. Irritated and bruising at the arm, he shot his training buddy a withering look. He’s more likely to kill me then teach me anything. he fumed; admittedly he was being a tad bit unfair.

Concern stretched Michira’s face tight; he hadn’t intended on causing any harm, he was just an imbecile when it came to social interaction. “Phew…thought I lost you there for a second.” he sighed. Uesugi sniffed indignantly. As if someone like Michira could do him in! What jokes!

As if reading his mind, the Chuunin smirked competitively, “Oh? Was that a bit of defiance I detected. Well since you’re so tough I bet you wouldn’t mind having another go at it then.”

Instantly they were both on their feet squared off to face each other. Truthfully losing in an energy stealing contest was having its effect upon Uesugi. He felt weary right down to his bones and each movement felt like he was moving a thousand pounds of stone. Even so, he could not allow Michira, someone whom he’d outscored on the Academy exam to surpass in both rank and skill. He wouldn’t let it happen! Fueled by this determination his palm burned bright blue once again as tongues of chakra flicked to life. Hesitation no longer had any place on the hook nosed shinobi as he raised his own chakra coated hand in front of his face, casting a menacing shadow on his face. Likely this would be the last time today that he’d be able to do this. Just using the technique drew greatly upon his strength; he was only human after all.

“Go!”
“YAR!!!”

The coinciding shouts pierced the silence of the near empty park as the two young man barreled towards one another recklessly. Grass was flung into the air after the soggy clumps of moist soil. When the two palms met it was immediately a test of wills. Locked like this with Michira, Uesugi could sense the flow of chakra—and it was flowing away from him! Gritting his teeth, his willed Michira’s chakra to leave him only to lose even more ground. His knees beginning to shake, he frantically tried to assess the situation. Why was he losing this battle? Was it a difference in technique? Chakra amount? Skill? No, it couldn’t be that he was less skilled. Impossible.

Yet he felt weakness creeping into his already wasted muscles. Little by little he was dropping to a knee. The more he tried to tear away the other man’s energy, the more he felt as his own chakra fled from him. And then he understood.

Of course!

Michira’s brow arched as a feisty smile spread across the Genin’s face. “You were right, what I needed was actual experience…theory can only get you so far.” Uesugo announced as if he had already gained the victory. Closing his eyes and expelling a breath, he no longer focused on Michira’s chakra, rather he concentrated on his own charka. All this time he’d been fighting to pull energy away from his foe, never realizing that he’d forgotten the cardinal rule he’d learned in his solitary training.

Surrender. He must surrender in order to understand fully.

Feeding his chakra into the vacuum in his palm he felt as it grew larger, the flames brighter, and slowly the stem of chakra leaving him slowed to a trickle. There it stayed as Michira for the first time since the training started, began to frown in concentration. The contest seemed which lasted minutes felt like hours as Uesugi shoveled more and more of his remaining energy into the vacuum. Until finally…he couldn’t do it anymore.

Breaking grip he dropped gasping for air as sweat soaked his headband. Michira dropped to a knee beside him with awed expression on his face, “That wasn't bad at all, Kenchu.” he congratulated with a pat on the back, “I was almost worried you had me for a sec there.”

Grateful, for the practice and the lesson he opened his mouth to thank Michira, but could only gasp for more air. “Looks like we overdid it today. Come on…off to the medical nin with you. Maybe we’ll try again when you get better.”

[R i k i c h i]

0/70 TP

His time spent in the medical ninja’s care had been well spent. In place of his actual training he began read a little about the concentration of chakra points in various places of the human body. Little details such as the small amount of tenketsu gathered in the hands and feet made it understandable why controlling and collecting chakra to those areas began to make sense in his head.

At least in the beginning it had.

Days layered upon days and weeks gave way to more weeks of restraining hours, forced sleep, and barely tolerable food. Not that he minded. Left to his own devices Uesugi would spend time absorbed in his training, never minding that he needed nutritious foods to keep up his energy—he’d already become even leaner than he had been during his elongated stay in the swampy outskirts that hid Kirigakure. Still, he was eager to test out his new jutsu in combination with his newfound knowledge of the human body. He’d already come to a few hunches he wanted to try out and he knew just the sempai to aid him in his venture; if not reluctantly. Eventually the day came when he received a clean bill of health from his caretakers. Leaving with a sultry sniff and ungrateful scowl the revitalized Genin sought out the Icikichumo, his academy teacher.

Actually finding the man wasn’t an issue given he was a man of habit. Frequent the local fruit stands to speak with the red haired woman he liked, spend time losing at shougi in the retirement homes before finally finding some reason to dawdle into the village park for an afternoon snooze. With the sun dipping nearly into the horizon there wasn’t much doubt where Ickichumo would be hiding out. Uesugi’s diligence was immediately rewarded as he found a sleeping, spiky haired man beside a slowly flowing brook.

“Is this really how an ambitious man aiming to be Jounin acts?” he sighed before nudging the man with his foot, “Get up…get up you lousy good-for-nothing…”

“Ohoho-Karine-chan~” Ickichumo crooned dreamily as he opened his eyes. The smile on his face was a bit unsettling, but Uesugi’s impatience was enough that he could ignore it. It was when the man grabbed him by the shoulders and puckered his lips that fear ran through his body like a current, “I see you finally decided to play with me~!”

It seemed a drunken kiss and the subsequent lawsuit would be unavoidable…

“Alright…so basically you want me to just stand here while you drain the life out of me?” the fully roused Ickichumo said skeptically. A good time had passed since the…incident and the teacher had smartly become quite agreeable that he should be Uesugi’s guinea pig. Of course it wasn’t because the young Genin was going to report him to the higher ups of the village or that it would be his second offense in two weeks. Never anything like that.. “I gotta say…that doesn’t sound appealing at all.”

Uesugi didn’t respond. His eyes were already in concentration as he upturned right palm came up to eye level. Chakra shivered excitedly as he drew it from the core of his being, pouring it into the center of his hand using the concentration technique he’d learned by staring at ceiling tiles; painfully so. As his eyes opened his hand was engulfed in a cold fire, but he paid it no mind as he moved without warning toward his standstill teacher. With a wordless shout he rammed his attack into his the belly of Ickichumo and immediately imagined focused on making the chakra surrounding his palm a void. An endless emptiness which hooked into the opponent’s own energy and ripped it from their body at an alarming rate. He felt as vacuum began to suck in more and more chakra, but he didn’t stop focusing, his mind working the image in his head to a sharp definition.

The effort was draining and the replenishment of chakra wasn’t nearly as restoring as the original Chakra Vacuum technique. His limit came quickly and before he knew it, he was breaking away from panting sempai, hand no longer glowing with the eerie light of his chakra. “Dammit! It takes too much concentration!” Uesugi vented.

Looking at his palm with frustration and determination making a haunted look to his face he refocused his efforts, allowing his emotions to drain away from him. Ickichumo watched thoughtfully though he wasn’t looking quite so ready to take another hit from what would prove to be a very useful technique if Uesugi could actually learn it. Ready or not, I’m coming. Uesugi thought. No sooner had his thought flashed across his mind he threw himself hand ablaze with the jutsu—heading straight for Ickichumo. Contact drove Ickichumo back a few steps, but the man remained standing. He was a good deal bigger than Uesugi and possessed the honed body of a swordsman.

Focus The void formed faster this time and he could already feel chakra being pulled into himself as more beads of sweat popped onto his forehead. Exhaustion struck in heavy waves and threatened to cave in his knees, but Uesugi stubbornly gritted his teeth and held on. Trickles of chakra flowed into him making the effort a little more bearable, but it was plainly obvious that the effort would soon overwhelm him. Finally it slipped away and he dropped to all fours trying to take in gulps of air while overhead he could hear Ickichumo muttering about how much fun it was letting a pint sized runt beat him into unconsciousness.

Uesugi smiled while wiping his mouth with the back of his palm, his resolve renewed. He was close; he just needed a little bit more to make it work.

[R i k i c h i]

0/70 TP

Moonlight washed over the park as two silhouettes stood distinct against the surrounding misty darkness. The smaller of the two moved toward the larger like a wrath, its hand glowing which illuminated the face of the person. It was a red haired child whose innocent features were twisted in concentration and aggression with his hand hovering over his head like a snake waiting to sink its fangs into his victim.

Planting his foot into the ground with a thud Uesugi practically punched Ickichumo with his open chakra embalmed palm. The elder grunted though he—as he had every other time—taken the lick without falling over. Immediately Uesugi began to focus on the void, on making it draw more than just a trickle. He felt as his influence pulled greedily at the chakra within the Chunnin training partner. As he should have. The stomach and core regions of the human body housed the largest portion of the various tenketsu or chakra points that lay within the body as such access to a person’s chakra should have been easiest from this point.

Only even now Uesugi could tell that his technique was drawing agonizingly slow amounts of energy no matter how much he focused on making the void ‘bottomless’. The mastery Chakura Sabaki Koudo eluded him to a frustrating degree. It occurred to him that maybe he needed to pump more of his chakra into the jutsu, it was after all a high level technique—at least that’s what Michira had been bragging about when he first mentioned mastering it.

Gnashing his teeth and digging his heel deeper into the ground he channeled more of his chakra into his hand immediately feeling the taxing effect weigh heavily on his body. Eyes nearly rolling up into his head he looked to see if his teacher exhibited any visible effect to the increased output of his energies. Ickichumo looked no more strained than he had a couple of seconds ago. The man’s hard, angular face and small, tilted eyes almost seemed as if they were poised to smirk smugly at his failure. Uesugi knew that was just tired paranoia, but his aggravation with himself grew nonetheless and finally he dropped his hand,

“I can’t do it…” he gasped before falling to his knees. By now they were a watery brown from all the times he’d collapsed. His first day out of the hospitable and he spent the entirety of it simply pressing his body for results. “I’m sorry Sempai, maybe I just wasted your time. Perhaps we should just go ba—” BLAM!

Something struck him. Hard.

Rubbing his jaw his eyes searched the night to see where the attacker was, but he found only Ickichumo eyeing him coldly while rubbing his hand. Uesugi’s eyes narrowed as he noticed it was red. “Ah, so you noticed. Like I care. Quit being such a selfish brat. You woke me up and blackmailed me into training you like you always do and now all you can say is ‘Sorry, I wasted your time’? Get serious.”

Uesugi wanted to snap back at him, but he couldn’t. What could he say in his defense? He’s right, I shouldn’t give up…but that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t do this jutsu. Opening his mouth to voice his thoughts Uesugi found Ickichumo standing arms spread wide with a defiant grin on his face,

“Guys like us ain’t meant to learn things the easy way. Get off your ass and grind your bones to dust until you do this thing right!”

With a snort Uesugi rose to his feet. Guys like them? He was nothing like Ickichumo. The man was lazy, incompetent, a pervert, and just seemed to lack the drive to do anything other than just lounge around until some big promotion dropped into his hands. The man was right about one thing though: he couldn’t stop even if his bones grinded to nothing. He needed purpose, he needed to become something. Anything at all would do, but never nothing. He had to be…useful.

“Looks like you have your moments as a teacher…” he commented as the flame of chakra roared with more life than it had any time before, “It’ll look bad if I can’t deliver after hearing you say all that.”

No more words were to be shared. In one movement the space between them dwindled to nothing. Uesugi’s chakra palm technique slammed into Ickichumo yet again though this time there might have been a little more authority. Flowing his chakra into his hand, he began whirling the endless void that was the vacuum in a vain attempt to make it more effective. Still like before, the jutsu only drew in as much as the basic Chakra Vacuum technique and with more than twice the energy use. He was missing a key detail. What could it be?

Of course! All at once it came to him.

Grabbing the wrist of his jutsu hand he imagined widening the 'mouth of the vacuum’. Stretching it open until he felt as if his hand would disappear from the sheer size of it. His chakra burned brightly until the entire park was lit in a soft blue tint, but he could feel the difference immediately and Ickichumo’s surprised intake of breath told him all he needed to know before the man jumped away in fear. He was close. Just a little more… he thought as he took a step towards his sempai for another attempt. For some reason he didn’t move forward this time though instead he fell.

Flat on his face.

[R i k i c h i]

0/70

Weeks after his second big success he and Ickichumo lay panting on the ground. They had been working for a better part of the day without rest or food—all in order to perfect a technique that in theory should have been perfected. Maybe it was, Uesugi just didn’t feel comfortable with yet and so…he trained.

“I’m close. I can feel it.” he murmured weakly as his chest rose and fell. Ickichumo sat up though his face was still lined with tiredness. Having chakra sucked out of you in substantial volumes couldn’t have been easy on him. “It’s just the concentration. It still feels strained. Like I’m only barely able to make it work as it should.”

“Yea well…what’ll ya do if the person yer chasin’ runs around on ya?” Ickichumo asked blandly in that barely discernible country accent of his. Uesugi almost groaned. He hadn’t even thought about that. Concentrating enough to make it work while the person was moving was hard enough—was it even possible for him to chase someone down and still use the jutsu the right way? His apprenhension must have been plain because Ickichumo sluggishly rose to his feet with that undaunted grin of his, “Aww c’mon! How hard can it be?”

For some reason the curve of his lips hid a devil’s glee behind it. Rising to his feet, slowly, but rising Uesugi drew forth his chakra vacuum once again. It took some time to work into full bloom as the quantity of life energy in his palm gradually flowered into a ember of chakra sucking force. All I have to do is catch him. I’m about as fast as him anyway…right? With an abrupt start the game of tag commenced and Ickichumo’s image flickered from existence.

The sound of feet shuffling behind gave enough warning as Uesugi ducked—just in time to avoid the skull crushing elbow blow that had been coming. Looking up in protest Ickichumo shrugged, “I ain’t said nuthin’ bout not comin’ atcha full force” Growling, Uesugi thrust upward from his crouched position, but as his chakra vacuum approached he could feel its power dwindling as the perfect balance of concentration and balance was interrupted by such sharp movements. Feeling like a fool even as he did it, Uesugi hesitated to buy time in a vain attempt to try reinforcing the jutsu’s power. As expected Ickichumo saw through his ploy and hammered down the feeble strike with forearm blow before driving his knee deep into Uesugi’s solar plexus.

Weightlessness occupied his mind for the next few seconds before the painful thud of his landing on the ground. His jutsu had completely dissipated in the savage assault, but he had expected that. Shooting his sempai a mean glare he struggled to his feet while the other man nonchalantly laughed while bouncing lightly on his toes. It was as if the earlier hours of taking each draining blow from Uesugi had simply slipped from his mind and body—how did the man do it?

Focus.

Closing his eyes, Uesugi slowly began to gather chakra into his hand again. Unfortunately a flying knee crashed into his chest sending him skidding backwards on his bum a few more feet before he lay flat-backed the muddy ground, “He’s going to kill me…” Like a nightmare Ickichumo was standing over him with a smile that said ‘Yes, I do intend to kill you. Maybe your friends and family too while I’m at it.’ Using his frustration to sharpen his focus flooded chakra into his palm clumsily forming the vacuum that would suck the man dry, but it took time to gather that much strength and Ickichumo took advantage of the second’s slowness to backhand him hard across the jaw.

It was a grueling practice, but this time he simply blotted out the pain instead redoubling his focus upon the chakra vacuum and miraculously holding it in place even as he stumbled to his feet. He tasted blood in his mouth and his knees wobbled, but he grinned as he raised the burning hand for Ickichumo to see.

“I can keep it focused now. Let’s see if I can’t hit you, sempai.”

Bounding in long strides, Uesugi kept sharp eyes on Ickichumo who settled into a wide wrestler’s stance, hands ready to knock down or adjust to any movements that the charging Genin made. Even then Uesugi kept his mind only on the flame that was slowly increasing in its intensity with each step that he took. Finally they were close and he threw an open palmed hook in the elder’s direction, just missing taking plowing the chakra vacuum into the man’s head, but that wasn’t important. A trickle of energy jolted through his system thanks to a passing glance of a blow that even he hadn't been able to follow with his eyes. Ickichumo rubbed his stubble of a beard gingerly while Uesugi grinned. “I should thank you sempai…” he said maybe a bit overconfidently.

‘Oh? Why’s that?”

“Cuz this is the jutsu that will finally beat you.”

With that the training resumed and in some ways became fiercer. The key to keeping his mind settled was not to allow the connection between his mind and his body to sever the connection between his mind and his energies. It seemed a strange and awkward concept at first, but slowly as he began to dodge a few of Ickichumo’s blows he began to understand that it came from simply repeating the steps of the jutsu in his mind to remind himself to maintain the effort while continuing to react to Icki’s feints, counters, and all-out attacks as he normally. It required effort, but he was managing so for and soon one of his blows would land for sure.

[R i k i c h i]

0/70 TP

It had been a hard night and as the sun’s rays peaked out over the distant, misty edge of the horizon Uesugi’s chaotic training continued in earnest. He barely managed to block a reverse backfist that might have taken his head had he not raised his hand—even then it had thrown him off balance so that he was forced to release his newly improved Chakra Vacuum jutsu. Handspring expertly flowed into a flip gave him the distance he needed to summon the handy technique anew—this time with a little more ease than the last.

He had noticed that earlier. The more he had been forced to release the jutsu and perform it again then maintain it, the more he had been able to better understand the technique itself subsequently making it easier for him to use in general. Now rather than simply focusing on a void he accumulated the chakra into his palm and allowed the chakra itself to behave as a vacuum without his paying any added attention to it. Not only that when he struck, as he did now to counter fast rising uppercut aimed for his chin, he cut the flow of chakra off so that he move instantly rather than worrying about how to maintain the technique for elongated periods of time throughout the fight.

Still, Ickichumo pressured with a series of well placed kicks that laced together to form near perfect combinations. Simply getting within range was a feat by itself, actually landing the jutsu would take a good deal of ingenuity. Sliding back as a hard shoulder charge nearly toppled him, Uesugi gathered chakra into his hand, feeling as it coursed slowly from his core, through his arm, before gathering into thick bubble around his hand. In terms of strength, his jutsu could very easily exhaust a full fledged ninja of considerable skill given a small amount of time. He just needed to create an opening into it.

“Eh? Wait…wait a minute…” he said holding a cautioning hand out to Ickichumo whose own hands worked diligently moving from a Monkey hand seal to a Dragon followed by Tiger before finally finishing with Snake. “Oi, that’s going to f—”

“Suiton: Ja no Kuichi!”

The soppy ground began to weep water that formed into a snake that hung menacingly in the air before Ickichumo narrowed his eye coldly which seemed to signal the go-ahead to finish poor Uesugi off because the thing crashed into him with such force and carried him helplessly along before dumping, panting on the ground. Dripping wet he sat up and stared curiously at his elder: Why was it such a weak technique? he wondered, but he when he saw Ickichumo holding himself up with a hand on his knee he understood. They had been going hard for a long time and he had landed some blows with the Chakra Vacuum even if it wasn’t precisely perfected.

Stammering to his own feet he ran with a lopsided gait towards the worn out teacher. His mind was clouded as he ran and the oxygen he hungrily sucked into his lungs burned like gravel down his throat, but he shifted the bulk of his focus not on his pains or exhaustion, but into his right hand. Chakra streamed through him desperately before finally pooling in a bright flame of light in the palm of his hand. About ten paces away from Ickichumo, Uesugi gave in to his weakness and decided to launch himself in the air for one final strike. Both men howled like mad dogs and as they crashed into each painfully Uesugi planted his palm against his beloved sempai’s chest, feeling as the chakra flooded into him in undulating waves which dissipated as it broke into smaller segments of energy into his body.

It wasn’t a substantial gain in his personal reserves, but it was enough. Falling tiredly to the ground, the two lay silently for a few moments. Then one or the other began spluttering causing the remaining partner to begin bellowing in pure laughter. There was beauty in the moments shared with a teacher and a student.

[Corvus]

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