Personal Growth (T)

[Kurai Tenshi]

0/30
Hand Vine Manipulation

SPOILER: Click to show

Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: NinJutsu; Passive
Effect: Allows a Zassou member to manipulate vines extending from the holes in the tips of the fingers and the three holes in the palm of each hand.
Special: ---
Drawback: Cannot use hand vines until this technique is learned.
Description: A form of training that allows a clan member to manipulate vines from different portions of their bodies.
Limit: Must be a Zassou.

It had been a long year since he was first implanted with the strange seeds of the Zassou. A year since he'd last seen Sora. They were all that he had to remember his one-time lover by now, and yet, he felt even more incomplete with them. He had yet to learn even the most basic chakra control for moving the vines about, and so they remained nothing more than holes in his body. An ugly emptiness that scarred his body. Still, he had spent several months training. He had learned the wood release with Sora, but that didn't seem to be enough. Molding the chakra into the vines seemed beyond his reach, no matter how hard he tried.

Yet, he knew that he must try again, and again, until he made progress. Lifting his hand up to eye level, palm facing himself, he began to focus. He felt the energy flow through him, and at the same time around him. His garden, his miniature paradise, filled with plants of various types, each one had its own life. Its own chakra. The energy of life itself, wood release. He focused now, allowing that to be his goal. The power of creation, water and earth, fused together to form life. This was the energy he needed, and as he communed with the nature around him he felt the power build within himself.

Now, with the chakra of life flowing through him, he focused it forward and outwards, through his body and into the seeds. Each one, rooted, a part of him. Each one a living being with its own wants and needs. With his eyes closed, his focus so thorough, it dawned on him the simple fact that he felt ashamed for not realizing before. He could not force his chakra into such a creature, for it too had chakra. It had a life force of its own, and the only way he would be able to make progress is to work with them, rather than against them.

His breathing grew heavy, his body strained as his mind rushed to accept the new ideas forming in his mind, while maintaining the flow of special chakra he was maintaining within his palm. He could feel it now, the seed deep under his skin, and he knew that it could feel him. Where he had once tried to pummel chakra into the seed, he now let the chakra flow around the intrusion. Caressing it. Nourishing it. He fed the seed with his energy, and that energy became growth. Only an inch, but far more progress than he'd ever made before, he could now see the young sproutling of a vine sticking out of the palm of his hand, as if greeting him and thanking him for his success.

With a slight pant, he reversed the process, encouraging the vine to shrink back, to give him the energy he had given it. He drew out his chakra from around the seed, and much to his surprise it released its own chakra to fill the void, shrinking and vanishing back into his hand as though it understood his will. It was not mastery, by far, but it was progress and more. He felt something emotional come over him, a tear rolling down his cheek as he realized his vines were no longer dormant scars but instead waiting allies. Living memories of Sora.

[Holy Grail]

10+

[Kurai Tenshi]

10/30
Hand Vine Manipulation

SPOILER: Click to show

Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: NinJutsu; Passive
Effect: Allows a Zassou member to manipulate vines extending from the holes in the tips of the fingers and the three holes in the palm of each hand.
Special: ---
Drawback: Cannot use hand vines until this technique is learned.
Description: A form of training that allows a clan member to manipulate vines from different portions of their bodies.
Limit: Must be a Zassou.

It wasn't enough, however. He knew that if he were to lead a clan he would need complete and total control over not only his vines but himself as well. Still strained from his previous effort he pushed on, chakra flowing through him again to form the life energy that would feed the vines. Now, though, he wanted more. He had to make better progress, and with that in mind he let the chakra flow not only to his palm but through his entire hand.

First, through the palm, the vine accepted and consumed his energy, growing outwards once more as the other seeds began to follow suit. Each one devoured his essence as he concentrated on them, allowing them to extend and become true vines, the vines of the Zassou. His palm was growing heavy with the additional bulk of their weight, but he didn't care. It wasn't about him anymore. This was about the plants now growing outwards, reaching into the air and quivering about as they grew. The one from his palm began to wrap around his forearm, while the ones from his fingertips drooped slowly toward the ground, each one growing at a different rate but all of them reaching over a foot in length before a sudden sharp pain shot through Kurai.

At first he tried to shrug it off as the pains of training, but after a few moments it became clearer that this was no ordinary pain. He released his concentration, allowing the vines to slouch as he looked around himself. No signs of any entry. He checked along his back and body for wounds, but there were no signs of attack. Even a glance around the room revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Finally, with his senses returning to him, it occurred to Kurai where the pain was stemming from. With his unhampered hand he reached up and rubbed along the scar where he had long since yanked out the seed from his shoulder, the source of his now minor anguish.

It made no sense to him, how the lack of a seed in his shoulder could hurt so badly. Was it simply a mental agony, knowing that he had torn a piece of Sora from himself? Or perhaps it truly was physical, the stress he was putting himself through starting to take its toll. Either way, he took a momentary break, not wanting to cause himself serious injury.

Kurai laid to rest, his still extended vines across his body as he slept. It was something of a comfort, knowing they were there, regardless of their inability to protect him. Still, his dreams were plagued by the face of Sora, so frightened on the day that he vanished. Kurai hadn't stopped him. Hadn't even tried. Sora might still be around now if Kurai hadn't been so weak. The knowledge was like a crushing weight, pressing down on him. He had done nothing, and he knew it. Suffocating. It was the word that came to mind just as he woke up, both hands clasped at the vine around his throat. He panicked, attempting to yell, but the vine was tight and he could only thrash for a few moments before the thought 'I don't want to die' came to mind, at which the vine slackened, drawing back. Gasping for air, Kurai sat up and removed the vine, staring at it in horror. Surely the vine hadn't intended to kill him, but what of himself? Had he tried to commit suicide in his sleep? He shook his head, sadly, knowing that it might be true.

Regardless, he examined the vine itself. It had grown, considerably. Nearly five meters of it was exposed, and as Kurai focused his will it responded in time, sluggishly moving to and fro like the tail of a disheartened puppy. Despite the fear Kurai now had of himself, this too was progress. He had learned about himself, and the vines, all at once. Slowly letting the vine withdraw into him he closed his eyes, leaning back against the wall behind him. There would be no sleep tonight, but for now, he could rest knowing that every day brought him closer to fulfilling Sora's wishes.

[Holy Grail]

6+

more training, less fluff~

[Kurai Tenshi]

(( The fluff is fun though D: ))

16/30
Hand Vine Manipulation

SPOILER: Click to show

Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: NinJutsu; Passive
Effect: Allows a Zassou member to manipulate vines extending from the holes in the tips of the fingers and the three holes in the palm of each hand.
Special: ---
Drawback: Cannot use hand vines until this technique is learned.
Description: A form of training that allows a clan member to manipulate vines from different portions of their bodies.
Limit: Must be a Zassou.

Weeks passed as he continued to train. He was slowly losing his purpose in life, but he filled the void with hours of intense physical and mental workouts. Pushing himself to the limits by extending his vines and using them in place of his hands. He quickly learned that these vines were both dexterous and full of hidden uses, though he didn't yet have enough control over them to discover what they could do beyond wiggle about.

At first it was difficult. Grasping things with vines that were an extension of his body, rather than his fingers that were a part of his original anatomy. Like having grown new hands entirely. At first he attempted to use them very similarly to chopsticks, but he soon found that wrapping around objects was often far more practical than trying to grasp objects between two of them. That was the other thing that surprised him about them though. They weren't just vines, they were strong. If he focused entirely on just squeezing a single vine he could crush things that even his hands were too soft to break, such as the thick branches of trees and stones he found in his garden. Used practically all of these advantages would make his vines great tools for both war and peace.

This was where his progress took a sharp turn for the worse, though. The more he thought about leading a clan of Zassou, the less he felt like that was his task. Yes, he could revive the clan by gifting seeds to the deserving, but what right did he have to lead them? His lack of conviction slowed his progress as he came to realize that he had no real reason to exist beyond being a seed factory. Without purpose he gave in to despair, and his nights continued to haunt him with visions of Sora.

[~Emi~]

+5

21/30

You are allowed to have fluff :3
just don't expect to gain TP if it doesn't have anything to do with training ^^

[Kurai Tenshi]

((Yay! Fluff! It'd be way too boring to literally just RP the training. There'd be no character development))

21/30
Hand Vine Manipulation

SPOILER: Click to show

Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: NinJutsu; Passive
Effect: Allows a Zassou member to manipulate vines extending from the holes in the tips of the fingers and the three holes in the palm of each hand.
Special: ---
Drawback: Cannot use hand vines until this technique is learned.
Description: A form of training that allows a clan member to manipulate vines from different portions of their bodies.
Limit: Must be a Zassou.

Kurai made use of the vines every day. He used them for nearly everything now. He could feel his attachment to them becoming very natural. Every millimeter of each vine was a perfect specimen of both strength and utility. He could feel through them, use them as tools and extended arms. He could manipulate them like fingers, and even use them to perform the most delicate of tasks. Yet something was missing. Despite his growing skill with these vines, he knew that these were only the first of many. He would need to achieve the same level of awareness with every vine in his body, and he still hadn't mastered these few.

So he spent every moment of his free time, whenever he felt he was alone and unseen, using his vines for all manner of tasks. From moving stones across his yard to pulling weeds, to lifting himself up in a sort of 'pull-up' that relied entirely on the strength of his vines. Of course this training didn't always go as planned. He couldn't lift anything with vines that he couldn't lift with his arms, due to their attachment to his hands. He also couldn't easily push things away from himself that were heavier than him, for similar reasons. Even still, he tried day and night to attempt such.

This time it was lifting a boulder. He'd paid to have it placed there as decoration, and it had taken three trained men to place it there. Now he had all six of his available vines wrapping around it, extended to nearly ten meters each in length.

He knew that trying to raise it into the air would merely crush him under its weight, but with slow and deliberate steps he was moving backwards and attempting to use the vines to pull the boulder closer to himself. When he reached his 'zero' point he placed both feet onto rocks he'd placed in the ground to brace himself, and then the real work began. He put all of his strength into retracting the vines, while at the same time trying to keep himself in place. He was crouched low as the earth beneath his feet began to give way, but the boulder hadn't budged even an inch. With a strong tug he almost couldn't control he lost his footing, one of the stones coming up out of the ground, and he bounced against the ground twice before slowly coming to a stop inches away from the boulder.

Progress with the vines, perhaps. Yes, progress in his training. He still wasn't strong enough though. The boulder remained firmly in place and there was no sign that he'd even done anything to it, so he slowly retracted the vines back into his palms and stood up to brush himself off. He didn't notice the lines that had been etched into the rock, or the fact that they matched the pattern of his vines perfectly. He was too focused on the goal he had set, and he didn't realize that his vines were growing far stronger than he had expected.

[Deleted]

((Yay! Fluff! It'd be way too boring to literally just RP the training. There'd be no character development))

Oh I like you.

+9; Learned.

[Kurai Tenshi]

(( Thank you! I like you too :3 ))

0/30
Blooming Vine Technique

SPOILER: Click to show

Kaika Tsukene no Jutsu ("Blooming Vine Technique")
Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: NinJutsu
Effect: Causes the tip of one of the user's vines to bloom into a beautiful dark purple flower. In the middle of the flower is a large thorn covered in the Zassou poison.
Special: "Hand Seals"
Drawback: ---
Description: Causes a beautiful dark purple flower to bloom that has a thorn in the middle of it, covered in the Zassou poison. This thorn will shoot out at the user's wish, and another will replace it. Once shot, the thorn will then split apart into many smaller shards, covered in poison. These thorn shards are almost impossible to see, and will more then likely strike there target.
Limit: Must be a Zassou.

Several days of struggle later. Several days with all sixteen of his active vines wrapped around that rock. Several days of fighting the very earth itself and then something snapped. Not mentally, but physically. The boulder began to crack and shatter at the points where the vines gripped it, and from there they dug deeper and deeper until finally, on the last day, it crumbled into shards of its former self. He had never intended to destroy the rock, only to move it, but now he knew for certain. He had mastered control of the vines in his hands, allowing him to finally call himself a true Zassou.

[End Hand Vine Manipulation Training]

It wasn't enough though. If he were to find purpose he would need strength, and if he were going to attain strength he could not settle on merely a single minor success. Now that he could control the vines, he would need to weaponize them. All this time he had felt something within them, these vines were beautiful and strong in their own way, but they were incomplete. He would adapt them to any and every situation. Now that he had a way to fight hand to hand, in a manner of speaking, he would need a way to attack from a distance.

[Begin Blooming Vine Technique Training]

It started on a simple theory. He knew that there was a poison running through these vines, even if he had been immunized to it early on. The vine didn't seem to secrete it naturally from the skin, but he knew that every plant had different methods of poison application. These vines were clearly meant to be attached to him, and so it was only logical that it would require his intervention to cause the poison to be injected into his enemies. To this end he considered all the ways his vines could evolve and change. Thorns, flowers, bark and more. So many possibilities. He would test them all, if he had to.

And so he extended the three vines from his right palm, and with his left hand he began to gently prod and feel around the appendages. At the same time he looked within, using his flow of chakra to coerce the vine and very carefully examine it in a manner not unlike sonar. Letting the plant feed him back the information he needed. Yes, these plants could do many things. They could be many things. beautiful things. Now he was sitting in the middle of his room, with one vine held in hand he began to radiate chakra through it, seeking out the growth at the tip of the vine and focusing his energy on it. He knew what it was now, he knew every part of his vines, but it still required effort on his part to get it functioning properly.

A flower. Small, precious, deadly. Near the tip a bulb began to form, and then after minutes of concentration it began to grow until it was about the size of a quarter. A very calm, peaceful feeling washed over Kurai now. He was at one with his vines and he felt that was exactly where he needed to be.

[~Emi~]

+7

7|30

[Kurai Tenshi]

7/30
Blooming Vine Technique

SPOILER: Click to show

Kaika Tsukene no Jutsu ("Blooming Vine Technique")
Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: NinJutsu
Effect: Causes the tip of one of the user's vines to bloom into a beautiful dark purple flower. In the middle of the flower is a large thorn covered in the Zassou poison.
Special: "Hand Seals"
Drawback: ---
Description: Causes a beautiful dark purple flower to bloom that has a thorn in the middle of it, covered in the Zassou poison. This thorn will shoot out at the user's wish, and another will replace it. Once shot, the thorn will then split apart into many smaller shards, covered in poison. These thorn shards are almost impossible to see, and will more then likely strike there target.
Limit: Must be a Zassou.

It was simple really. The poison was already in him. It was a part of him just like the vines. Just like the precious bud now growing from his very essence. It took a long time in that exact pose, and it seemed like nothing could break his bond now between himself and his vine. Slowly that bud became a flower, deep purple and so very vibrant thanks to its unnatural diet of high levels of chakra. Then it began to develop into something more. Each of the petals began to lean outward all at once, slowly blooming to reveal the inner plant.

Now is where things became complicated, however. Causing the flower to bloom was another simple matter of vine manipulation, and as planned the poison was welling up at the base of the sprout. Now he had to force it outwards though. When the flower had fully bloomed he took a deep breath, trying to understand how it could expel the poison. He leaned forward, near the plant, and looked closely at the inside of it. It looked very different from the average flower, the inside of it seeming to be a sharp thorn and almost dangerous. Dangerous was a good word for it, in fact, because with his eye so close to the plant something inside of it seemed to burst, flying outward and nearly clipping Kurai's face. Much closer and he'd surely be blind now, and that fact isn't lost on him as he topples backwards in surprise to look up at the ceiling, now marked with a single thorn slowly dripping a dark purple poison down onto his shirt.

[Deleted]

HA HA HA HA

+4; 11|30.

[Kurai Tenshi]

(( Oh my, you were quick on that, weren't you? <3 ))

11/30
Blooming Vine Technique

SPOILER: Click to show

Kaika Tsukene no Jutsu ("Blooming Vine Technique")
Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: NinJutsu
Effect: Causes the tip of one of the user's vines to bloom into a beautiful dark purple flower. In the middle of the flower is a large thorn covered in the Zassou poison.
Special: "Hand Seals"
Drawback: ---
Description: Causes a beautiful dark purple flower to bloom that has a thorn in the middle of it, covered in the Zassou poison. This thorn will shoot out at the user's wish, and another will replace it. Once shot, the thorn will then split apart into many smaller shards, covered in poison. These thorn shards are almost impossible to see, and will more then likely strike there target.
Limit: Must be a Zassou.

As far as unexpected results went, this was certainly new to Kurai. Exactly what he had wanted. Everything he needed. As unpredictable as the wind. He sighed as he realized that he was pretty much starting the entire process of learning over again. He hadn't tried to trigger that thorn, but it had launched at an incredibly inopportune time. If this had been a fight, he'd be dead, and that was certainly not acceptable. Not in the least.

Slowly righting himself, he lifted that dangerous vine in his hand, taking a more cautious look at his flower. At the center of it there appeared to be a new thorn beginning to grow, no doubt waiting for his help to form fully once more. He wasn't so eager to do that just yet, instead taking more time to examine the plant from a botanical standpoint. It seemed like these vines had been grown specifically for combat, which made sense considering there had been an entire clan founded around them, but how one controlled such a plant using chakra alone. It was a daunting task, and quite frankly, he was surprised he'd made it this far.

Of course he couldn't stop now. With the flower still in hand he began to focus chakra into it once more, ignoring the growing fatigue that tugged at his mind for having exerted himself so much in such a short time. Of course it couldn't be good for him to endure this drain, but it wasn't important to him at this moment. He'd discovered something new and he wasn't going to let being tired slow him down. So with that in mind he formed the new thorn, and attempted to use his mind to expel that thorn forth, in a more attack and less suicide fashion.

[~Emi~]

+6

17|30

[Kurai Tenshi]

(( Fluff nao? Yes, fluff nao. ))

17/30
Blooming Vine Technique

SPOILER: Click to show

Kaika Tsukene no Jutsu ("Blooming Vine Technique")
Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: NinJutsu
Effect: Causes the tip of one of the user's vines to bloom into a beautiful dark purple flower. In the middle of the flower is a large thorn covered in the Zassou poison.
Special: "Hand Seals"
Drawback: ---
Description: Causes a beautiful dark purple flower to bloom that has a thorn in the middle of it, covered in the Zassou poison. This thorn will shoot out at the user's wish, and another will replace it. Once shot, the thorn will then split apart into many smaller shards, covered in poison. These thorn shards are almost impossible to see, and will more then likely strike there target.
Limit: Must be a Zassou.

The thorn doesn't fire. Instead Kurai's vision goes blurry, then black. Untrained, unskilled, and pushing himself far too hard. It had taken a toll on his mind and body, and now he was laying there in his room unconscious because of it. Several hours later he awoke, feeling sore and still tired. In his mind he has failed. A great leader doesn't pass out during training, they push themselves beyond their own limits and exceed expectations. So what did that make him? Nothing. He sat up and looked at his own palm, where the vine had retracted. He was nothing.

That's when Sora came to mind. Sora wouldn't have pushed him as hard as he pushed himself, and Sora would have also believed in him. He couldn't fail Sora. What if his love was still out there somewhere, waiting for Kurai to become strong enough to lead. He couldn't possibly let Sora down.

He couldn't continue training when he was in pain though, so he took a few more hours to rest before he returned to being seated in the middle of his room, fed and better prepared mentally for the task ahead. Channeling his energy through his body he very carefully extended the vine until it was out just a few inches, and when he felt ready he grew out the bulb. It was easy now, to create the bulb. Now that he understood it for what it was. Another part of himself, growing and changing at his will. That's why this time, when he allowed it to bloom, it didn't suddenly spit out the thorn within which glistened with his natural poison.

He aimed it away, toward a wall, and imagined a target being on it. Seeing it within his mind, he repositioned his vine and carefully prepared to flex his vine. He still wasn't sure how to trigger the thorn, but he knew that it was only a matter of time before he mastered this new skill. Like moving a finger. He saw it in his mind, his chakra flowing through the vine and to the bulb. Creating a pressure. Creating a force in which the vine would be forced to fire its deadly cargo. Then he succeeded. Sort of. The thorn burst forth, and after flying a few inches fell short of the wall, bouncing across the floor. Except this time he knew that he could do better. He didn't let it slow him down, instead already growing a new thorn and preparing to fire it.

Again, and again, and again. After seven thorns he was managing to hit the wall. Twenty and he was even nearing the target envisioned in his mind.

[KoKoKo]

+7

[Kurai Tenshi]

24/30
Blooming Vine Technique

SPOILER: Click to show

Kaika Tsukene no Jutsu ("Blooming Vine Technique")
Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: NinJutsu
Effect: Causes the tip of one of the user's vines to bloom into a beautiful dark purple flower. In the middle of the flower is a large thorn covered in the Zassou poison.
Special: "Hand Seals"
Drawback: ---
Description: Causes a beautiful dark purple flower to bloom that has a thorn in the middle of it, covered in the Zassou poison. This thorn will shoot out at the user's wish, and another will replace it. Once shot, the thorn will then split apart into many smaller shards, covered in poison. These thorn shards are almost impossible to see, and will more then likely strike there target.
Limit: Must be a Zassou.

He'd been at it for days now. His home was covered in defective thorns and his carpet was stained purple with the poisonous sap of his vines. He had managed to gain more and more control over them, but it still wasn't enough. Striking the target with the thorn, he was growing exceedingly accurate now but he could do more. He looked up at his tattered wall and sighed softly. His training was destroying his home, but he couldn't just walk outside and start swinging his vines around. Not when someone was hunting the Zassou.

Perhaps it was nearing the time that would require him to seek out others. Perhaps he wasn't the last Zassou in the world. He didn't get out much, so he didn't talk to anyone in the village, but surely someone would know something about them. The only thing he could do right now though, the only thing he wanted, was to master everything about his vines.

So he raised his vine, letting the tip rest on his shoulder and several buds formed along the outside of the vine. This was something else he had been working on. If he could fire multiple thorns at once it would be a far more deadly attack. More difficult to avoid as well. Each bud bloomed, three in total, and he used the most minor twitches to reposition them just before with a small twinge he allowed all three to fire at once. Each made a soft 'thunk' as it hit the wall, landing with enough force behind them to cause the fragile barbs to shatter. Not before leaving three decently sized holes in the wall though.

This hadn't happened before now. The shattering of his thorns. It almost surprised him, but very little was still shocking when you had vines growing out of your body at will. So he stood up and moved closer to examine the wreckage. When he got closer though, he found that the impact with the wall wasn't what shattered them. Because the holes in the wall were lined with tiny fragments. Even the holes themselves were just very clustered little shrapnel. The thorn had detonated like a grenade, and the impact was just as deadly as a whole thorn, if not more so.

After all the time he'd spent wondering how he could possibly improve on his skill, and he discovers that he can spread his attack out over an explosive area of effect. It was almost as if the vines themselves were guiding him now. He birthed another bud, and with little regard to his home which was already mostly destroyed he stepped back from the wall as far as he could, then launched his deadly weapon. After a single moments hesitation, considering how he would trigger the thorn to shatter he simply decided on shattering it just as it was leaving the flower. So with a pulse of energy he fired the thorn with enough pressure to cause it to burst as it began to fly across the room, creating a shotgun spread across the far wall. Very few would be able to dodge such a deadly attack.

He couldn't help the thoughts tugging at the back of his mind, though. Why would he need to kill anyone? Something about this didn't feel right, and yet at the same time it was amazing. The power he felt from becoming stronger. If Sora required him to kill to become the leader of the Zassou, then for Sora he would kill. Yet the thought was hollow and empty. Sora was gone and he could almost be certain that Sora would never return. So what purpose did he have in life except to honor the memory?

[KoKoKo]

Learned - Thank you for training within Zassou clan.