Shimiko arrived at the ANBU training area with a large pack of scrolls and her ANBU gear. She had her mask on and when she got to the deserted grounds she sighed a breath of relief at having finally made it. The ANBU designated a series of training grounds that were super secret and far away from the prying eyes of the villagers. They were hidden away in crevices that were mightily far away from civilization itself. Shimiko let the pack fall and began digging through it. She selected the Senshichi Needle Armour Piercing Shot Technique that she had created earlier and began to study it once more. As she read, she reminisced on how far she had come as a ninja. Her parents had always chastised her and said that even if she had what it took to be a ninja, she'd never be happy in the profession. She was a nice sweet girl that was pleasant to everyone and had no business in a profession where murder and death were common. She summoned a few needles from Kālīkoroshimasu and charged them with Raiton. The needles swelled with electrical energy as she recalled a specific encounter with her mother a few years back.
Shimiko was shopping at the grocery store for some ingredients. She planned to make a homemade stew with goat, herbs, and a few specialty vegetables that were quite rare. It was one of her favorite meals and this would be her third attempt at it. Each time she got better but there was still improvement to be had. The memory made Shimiko angry and the anger caused her to lose focus on the shot. She was more concerned with controlling her anger than she was her chakra but she did not push the memory away. She needed to be able to fight under intense pressure and anger. Her spar with the Raikage had taught her one thing: that she had a tendency to slip into anger, rage, and wanton malice when fighting. This served her well as a genin but as a Jounin it would simply not do. She lost focus, wasted chakra, and tried risky things that were liable to get her or her comrades injured. ANBU had helped curbed the worst of it but every so often it crept into her psyche. Even now in the solitude of the mountains as she began firing off the charged needles before summoning more and loosing them in a stream against multiple targets. Each blast more powerful than the last she recalled the look on her mother's face when she saw the woman shopping. Celestia Chinoike was a gorgeous woman that was envied by the entire Clan. She had the pure Chinoike Clan genes and had ceased to age once she hit her prime. Celestia was pushing 40 but didn't look a day older than 25. She had long white hair, green eyes, and wore a silk kimono. Seigi had inherited a good bit of her features while Shimiko had more of her Dad's although that seemed to change once she had gotten older herself. Shimiko practiced the piercing shot a few more times and decided to work on her Devi Style as she continued the walk down memory line. Blood arms sprouted from her back as she continued a process of regenerating lost blood and manipulating it through her pores to form the extra limbs. She began training with a few kunai.
Shimiko had tried to avoid her mother, tried to go around her, tried to not make eye contact but she could feel the woman approach. She blocked her daughter's passage with her cart and walked over to her. Shimiko avoided the woman's icy gaze.
When she spoke her voice was light. It was calm, loving, and smoothing but it had an unmistakably edge to it that caused Shimiko to shudder. She continued to train relentlessly with her six kunai as she remembered the exchange that followed.
"Shimiko..."
"...."
"Shimiko look at me..."
Shimiko recalled looking her mother in the eye with all the defiance and hate that had been building up ever since she had moved out. They had not attended her academy graduation ceremony and they had barely visited Seigi when he was at the hospital. They didn't even seem to care about her when she fell sick with the plague. They had become disgusted at their own children and had slowly cut them off.
"Listen to me. I know you aren't ready or willing to hear this but I want you to know that your father and I love you. We care about you. We wanted the best for you just like we did Seigi. This shinobi life Shimiko....its not for you. We never wanted it for you and maybe we failed in helping you find another passion but we only pushed you away from it because we cared. "
"You wanted me to be a nurse. I hated it. You kept pushing me to it until you pushed me out of the house. That's on you not me."
Shimiko remembered her voice being low and angry. She didn't want to make a scene but she wasn't about to back down from her own mother. She spun the kunai with expert practice and continued stabbing and jabbing at the air. She did another hack and slash attack before spinning around deftly getting a feel for how the arms moved with in combat. Years later she could still sense the hostility and hurt in her mother's eyes.
"Shimiko....we never told you this but your brother wasn't always the Devil of the Cloud. He was different. The ninja life changed him. Your father encouraged him to join the military and it brought out a side of him that we never saw before. He was ruthless even by shinobi standards and it was like we had lost our only son. We didn't want the same to happen to you. I'm afraid that even if you don't change and become like him....you won't make it. The world is not what it was. People are returning to their baser ways....cruelty, conquest, and evil are everywhere Shimiko. You're not like that, its not who you are, you don't have it in you to be like them and when the time comes they'll destroy you for your weakness. Please just walk away from it and come home Shimiko."
The teenage girl gripped her cart and in the present Shimiko gripped her kunai as she completed a series of offensive maneuvers with her new arms. She threw the kunai into several training dummies hitting her mark with impeccable accuracy before digging through the pack for more scrolls. She settled on another set and began to read through it and study its contents. Her mind multi-tasking as the memory remained fresh in her mind.
"No. You're wrong. You don't know anything about me and when you learn what I can do you'll realize there was nothing you could have done to stop me from walking down this path. I'm never coming home. Ever."
The words were said with a degree of finality and disrespect that Shimiko knew she had shut the door permanently. Her mother looked away now and she could see the pain in her expression. Shimiko took advantage of the moment to turn away and move her cart past her mother but was stopped by a hand that reached out and grabbed her shoulder. She looked at Celestia and her eyes narrowed in anger. After a hard day of work she decided that she would rest and reflect on all the things she had learned that day.
"You're making Kaylett Stew?" Celestia's eyes fell to the contents of the cart and she sighed as her voice trembled. "You need another can of Oxhsha otherwise the bone will be too soft" she turned and walked past Shimiko having given her daughter some parting advice. Shimiko didn't even turn around instead she fixed her face and vowed not to cry. It was something almost all Chinoike daughters made with their mothers. It was a dish that tended to be passed down on the matriarchal side. Each family had its own recipe and way of doing things and it was considered a point of pride to be a link in the long chain of family history. Shimiko walked to the the aisle with the Oxhsha and considered for a second over whether she wanted a second can. It was true that the bones in her stew were softer and the flavor was a bit off...not like what her mother used to make. Then she realized that she didn't want her stew to be the same as her mother's and her mother's before her. She'd make her Kaylett Stew differently and while it might take some getting used to it would be her own recipe. She'd chart her own path without the influence or advice of her so-called parents. She left the can on the shelf and headed towards the checkout.
As the memory faded Shimiko found herself reading her last three jutsu. The more advanced forms of Hemokinesis and the Blood Echo. The Hemokinesis technique took time to learn and she had several prisoners and sacrifcee-s help her with this as she strapped them down and manipulated their blood in order to create the effects of this technique. She also learned blood echo with her new armour so she could practice molding and firing the blood echo at suffienct force for it to be destructive. She practiced this technique many times and used her chakra flow to analyze and then fire the technique. She was a Chinoike and so she was naturallly very skilled at this technique but it still took a fair amount of hard work in order to get it all done. Shimiko had to read a few Chinoike texts on how to perform the technique and what needed to be done in order for the jutsu to work properly. It was hard work and happened over the course of many days. She also made sure to get tips and points from others who could make it work the way that it was supposed to. There was many Chinoike to look up to and help her get everything done like it was supposed to so that the jutsu would be as effective as it was meant to be. The techniques were not overly complex but they would require some practice. She memorized the contents of the scrolls and put them into practice. She practiced for a few more hours and then called it a day.
Senshichi Needle Armour Piercing Shot [S-Rank] - 350 WC
Hemochakraspesis Infection Stage III [A-Rank] - 300 WC
Hemochakraspesis Infection Stage IV - Hemokinetic Shock - 300 WC
Devi Style: The Six Sai Multi-Armed Goddess [A-Rank] - 300 WC
Blood Echo [A-Rank] - 300 WC
WC Needed: 1,550
Total WC: 1,776/1,550
ALL LEARNED
Shimiko was shopping at the grocery store for some ingredients. She planned to make a homemade stew with goat, herbs, and a few specialty vegetables that were quite rare. It was one of her favorite meals and this would be her third attempt at it. Each time she got better but there was still improvement to be had. The memory made Shimiko angry and the anger caused her to lose focus on the shot. She was more concerned with controlling her anger than she was her chakra but she did not push the memory away. She needed to be able to fight under intense pressure and anger. Her spar with the Raikage had taught her one thing: that she had a tendency to slip into anger, rage, and wanton malice when fighting. This served her well as a genin but as a Jounin it would simply not do. She lost focus, wasted chakra, and tried risky things that were liable to get her or her comrades injured. ANBU had helped curbed the worst of it but every so often it crept into her psyche. Even now in the solitude of the mountains as she began firing off the charged needles before summoning more and loosing them in a stream against multiple targets. Each blast more powerful than the last she recalled the look on her mother's face when she saw the woman shopping. Celestia Chinoike was a gorgeous woman that was envied by the entire Clan. She had the pure Chinoike Clan genes and had ceased to age once she hit her prime. Celestia was pushing 40 but didn't look a day older than 25. She had long white hair, green eyes, and wore a silk kimono. Seigi had inherited a good bit of her features while Shimiko had more of her Dad's although that seemed to change once she had gotten older herself. Shimiko practiced the piercing shot a few more times and decided to work on her Devi Style as she continued the walk down memory line. Blood arms sprouted from her back as she continued a process of regenerating lost blood and manipulating it through her pores to form the extra limbs. She began training with a few kunai.
Shimiko had tried to avoid her mother, tried to go around her, tried to not make eye contact but she could feel the woman approach. She blocked her daughter's passage with her cart and walked over to her. Shimiko avoided the woman's icy gaze.
When she spoke her voice was light. It was calm, loving, and smoothing but it had an unmistakably edge to it that caused Shimiko to shudder. She continued to train relentlessly with her six kunai as she remembered the exchange that followed.
"Shimiko..."
"...."
"Shimiko look at me..."
Shimiko recalled looking her mother in the eye with all the defiance and hate that had been building up ever since she had moved out. They had not attended her academy graduation ceremony and they had barely visited Seigi when he was at the hospital. They didn't even seem to care about her when she fell sick with the plague. They had become disgusted at their own children and had slowly cut them off.
"Listen to me. I know you aren't ready or willing to hear this but I want you to know that your father and I love you. We care about you. We wanted the best for you just like we did Seigi. This shinobi life Shimiko....its not for you. We never wanted it for you and maybe we failed in helping you find another passion but we only pushed you away from it because we cared. "
"You wanted me to be a nurse. I hated it. You kept pushing me to it until you pushed me out of the house. That's on you not me."
Shimiko remembered her voice being low and angry. She didn't want to make a scene but she wasn't about to back down from her own mother. She spun the kunai with expert practice and continued stabbing and jabbing at the air. She did another hack and slash attack before spinning around deftly getting a feel for how the arms moved with in combat. Years later she could still sense the hostility and hurt in her mother's eyes.
"Shimiko....we never told you this but your brother wasn't always the Devil of the Cloud. He was different. The ninja life changed him. Your father encouraged him to join the military and it brought out a side of him that we never saw before. He was ruthless even by shinobi standards and it was like we had lost our only son. We didn't want the same to happen to you. I'm afraid that even if you don't change and become like him....you won't make it. The world is not what it was. People are returning to their baser ways....cruelty, conquest, and evil are everywhere Shimiko. You're not like that, its not who you are, you don't have it in you to be like them and when the time comes they'll destroy you for your weakness. Please just walk away from it and come home Shimiko."
The teenage girl gripped her cart and in the present Shimiko gripped her kunai as she completed a series of offensive maneuvers with her new arms. She threw the kunai into several training dummies hitting her mark with impeccable accuracy before digging through the pack for more scrolls. She settled on another set and began to read through it and study its contents. Her mind multi-tasking as the memory remained fresh in her mind.
"No. You're wrong. You don't know anything about me and when you learn what I can do you'll realize there was nothing you could have done to stop me from walking down this path. I'm never coming home. Ever."
The words were said with a degree of finality and disrespect that Shimiko knew she had shut the door permanently. Her mother looked away now and she could see the pain in her expression. Shimiko took advantage of the moment to turn away and move her cart past her mother but was stopped by a hand that reached out and grabbed her shoulder. She looked at Celestia and her eyes narrowed in anger. After a hard day of work she decided that she would rest and reflect on all the things she had learned that day.
"You're making Kaylett Stew?" Celestia's eyes fell to the contents of the cart and she sighed as her voice trembled. "You need another can of Oxhsha otherwise the bone will be too soft" she turned and walked past Shimiko having given her daughter some parting advice. Shimiko didn't even turn around instead she fixed her face and vowed not to cry. It was something almost all Chinoike daughters made with their mothers. It was a dish that tended to be passed down on the matriarchal side. Each family had its own recipe and way of doing things and it was considered a point of pride to be a link in the long chain of family history. Shimiko walked to the the aisle with the Oxhsha and considered for a second over whether she wanted a second can. It was true that the bones in her stew were softer and the flavor was a bit off...not like what her mother used to make. Then she realized that she didn't want her stew to be the same as her mother's and her mother's before her. She'd make her Kaylett Stew differently and while it might take some getting used to it would be her own recipe. She'd chart her own path without the influence or advice of her so-called parents. She left the can on the shelf and headed towards the checkout.
As the memory faded Shimiko found herself reading her last three jutsu. The more advanced forms of Hemokinesis and the Blood Echo. The Hemokinesis technique took time to learn and she had several prisoners and sacrifcee-s help her with this as she strapped them down and manipulated their blood in order to create the effects of this technique. She also learned blood echo with her new armour so she could practice molding and firing the blood echo at suffienct force for it to be destructive. She practiced this technique many times and used her chakra flow to analyze and then fire the technique. She was a Chinoike and so she was naturallly very skilled at this technique but it still took a fair amount of hard work in order to get it all done. Shimiko had to read a few Chinoike texts on how to perform the technique and what needed to be done in order for the jutsu to work properly. It was hard work and happened over the course of many days. She also made sure to get tips and points from others who could make it work the way that it was supposed to. There was many Chinoike to look up to and help her get everything done like it was supposed to so that the jutsu would be as effective as it was meant to be. The techniques were not overly complex but they would require some practice. She memorized the contents of the scrolls and put them into practice. She practiced for a few more hours and then called it a day.
Senshichi Needle Armour Piercing Shot [S-Rank] - 350 WC
Hemochakraspesis Infection Stage III [A-Rank] - 300 WC
Hemochakraspesis Infection Stage IV - Hemokinetic Shock - 300 WC
Devi Style: The Six Sai Multi-Armed Goddess [A-Rank] - 300 WC
Blood Echo [A-Rank] - 300 WC
WC Needed: 1,550
Total WC: 1,776/1,550
ALL LEARNED
