All the winds and flames and tricks! Oh my! - part II

Human Guise. A form Akari had long refused to learn as it felt it tarnished the pride of the oni. She didn't want to become one of the Humans but at some point she had grown to understand that certain activities were simply easier to deal with when people weren't looking at you funnily and working against you just for being different. When the oni told her that she wasn't changing her looks but instead weaving an illusion into the minds of humans to make her look like one of them, the yokai reluctantly accepted to try the technique out. And indeed, nothing about her own form had changed.

Life in Kabukicho would change drastically with this little trick. People no longer hunting her for being a yokai, only harassed her for being 'a pretty girl all by herself' or because they believed to have found an easy target for a quick pick-pocket. Time and again they'd find themselves disappointed and thwarted for the yokai's genjutsu and shinobi training granted her an advantage they didn't have. But the technique was flawed. It worked like a charm on the ones she could see, but it failed its effects on those she couldn't. Meaning that those sneaking up on her remained unaffected by her illusions. As an unintended side-effect of the Human Guise, Akari had found herself dealing with two different 'camps' - those who saw her as the demon and those who saw her as a human. The confusion between the two groups fighting her had created a certain confusion upon which she had capitalised.

While all in all the yokai didn't care much for the details in the confusion of others, she understood that such flawed technique would be of little benefit during infiltration and investigative missions. Henge no Jutsu would make a better choice. Still, the technique had some use and could form the base of future concepts. Better illusions, less flawed versions, could be created or completely different styles were possibly applied by using the core concept as a means.

But there was more. Where Human Guise offered a modicum of potentially avoiding mistakes, the yokai had found herself more than once on the other end. The error was made. She had a need to undo it without having to resort to the strain on violence. The baku seemed to have a technique like that. A sort of weak memory erasure. Not exactly a cure-all but when applied correctly and using a bit of charm, a lot could be averted with a minimum of effort. Added to that pacified hostility would be yet another technique that further manipulated the environment perceived by the mind. Techniques such as these were Akari's favourite as she simply loved toying with people's realities and making them see the horrors she saw.

To that purpose she had picked up two techniques. False Surroundings was the first one, allowing her to alter the environment. While it was best used for subtle changes, creating a wall in the mind of her pursuers when there was none was a great way of granting her an unexpected escape. At best, they'd halt before the wall they noticed. At worst, they'd try to climb it and hit the ground, instantly snapping out of the illusion as pain would wake them. In both cases, it granted time and distance to the fleeing yokai. The other illusion was possibly worse since it manipulated the mind of the opponent on a level few Humans cared to keep an eye out for - orientation. They'd be send on a goose chase rather soon, much to the grimancer's amusement.

The mind was but one tool. While fun, it also had its limits - mental torture took time and concentration the yokai had a hard time achieving. She knew she was on the verge of reaching a new level of mental domination but up until now she simply didn't have what it took. She was forced to find different means as it were. Taijutsu was one option she had begrudgingly tried out, and while she was no expert it had improved upon her physical condition. Just not sufficiently yet to provide her with the power she needed.

This was the reason why she was at the training area again today. The bruises from her crash yesterday were not entirely healed but she had her vitality back. That counted for something. Today, katon was on the training menu. An element that could punch a pack where her body lacked...

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751
XP: 10 [1/3 daily solo posts]

Training:
- D-rank Human Guise
- C-rank Confusion
- C-rank False Surroundings
- C-rank Sly Mind Affect

The natural affinity of oni with fire would become apparent quickly. Much like she had done with fuuton, Akari formed the hand seals to mold her chakra and breathed in as she mingled fresh air with fire chakra. She could feel the warmth build up in her lungs like they were the flames of hell themselves reaching out into the world of the living. Feeling the zenith of the build up fire, she spat out the molded chakra. A roaring ball of flame would grow in size as it travelled through the air, crashed against the training dummy and burned the puppet and the ground to black cinders. When the smoke cleared, the sharp scent of burn would slowly pervade the area. Akari blinked. She had heard several times that the oni were good with fire but this surpassed her expectations.  What's more was that she had yet to activate her latent eye powers which were said to have the ability to boost katon techniques even more. Intrigued by this new discovery, Akari proceeded with activating the Devil's Eye and molded chakra once more to form another jet of flames.

Repeating the former sequence, hand seals would be formed and chakra was molded. Targetting a new dummy, she spit out the fire in a series of smaller bolts, creating a volley that seemed to bloom open like a flower before it rained down upon the dummy. Few would actually hit the dummy, more than half just uselessly burning up all around it as they left smaller scorch marks on the floor. Not quite the result to be achieved but controlling a variety of bullets was not as easy as just spitting up one ball of fire to burn down a whole area. It needed some more practise but the newly found ability raised her spirits. She could do this. Easily.

Taking wire and senbon from her pouch, she'd throw the line towards the motionless puppet and form hand seals as the projectiles travelled forward. As soon as the 'thunk' of her kunai were heard, the fire in her lungs would follow. Snaking across the wires they'd quickly reach the immobile target and engulf the wood full force. Crackling under the flames of the demon, the sound of snapping wood was heard audibly. A bonfire in the middle of the training area, Akari would get closer and sit down to enjoy it. A little warmth in the otherwise cold world she experienced.

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[EXIT]

411
Total: 1162

Training:
- C-rank Dragon Fire Technique
- C-rank Great Fireball Technique
- C-rank Phoenix Sage Fire