The Way of the Woodcutter (Specialty Flashback)

Tengoku would blink as she came up and immediately began to heal his arm. The adrenaline was holding back the pain but he could feel relief flooding into him as she held her glowing green hands over it. She scolded him and he chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head with the free hand. A little abashed at his outburst. She was right of course. He had gone too far. Striking out so hard he had injured himself. She even scolded the other man as well which made him feel a little better. He would smile and reach out to pat her on the head before smiling.

"Sorry, You're right I got carried away. Thank you for reminding me what's important and for healing me. The adrenaline was wearing off so likely I wouldn't be too happy if you didn't soon enough. If you like we can train together some time. I'll be gentle I promise."

He would release his hand from patting her head as Ashitaka once more spoke harshly to her. He would frown and take a breath. He really didn't like that attitude. Such darkness overwhelming the kid. He wanted to show him that there were ways to still be kind in the world. He was worried about the darkness swallowing him. Still the clone would form and he would let his shoulders slump a little. The clone would demand to be followed and he would frown waiting until the two left before addressing Ashitaka himself. Tengoku could catch up quickly after all.

"You know....you don't have to be alone kiddo. It's an easier life if you have friends I promise you. You might not see it now but I'll tell you this. If you ever need saving or even just help. Even if its against impossible odds I'll be there. Because I refuse to give into a world full of hate. If I can't find hope I will be hope. You can call me a fool if you want and I won't hold it against you. All the same I will be there for you if you let me. Oh and the wolves are my friends not tools of war. They don't participate in my fights. They just help with tracking. They skipped town as soon as I told them to when you started gathering chakra for the first attack. I'll find them later or they'll find me. Just...don't let the world consume you yeah?"

With that Tengoku would do as he had been instructed and in a flash of movement he was gone. Still trackable for Ashitaka but definitely fast. If nothing else Tengoku was exceptionally physically powerful. His silver eyes would look down to the wooden sword in his hand as he contemplated it. Lightweight but firm. Surprisingly good in the hand for wood. Regardless he would land with the clone and the Uchiha girl before sheathing the sword on his back. Cracking his neck as he glanced to the clone. Then back to the scene Ashitaka was preparing for. Probably trying to scare the girl if he had to guess.

Yui watched as the two stopped, the young boy, of course, was being as troublesome as ever. He was bitter and angry that sort of anger was not good to have, deep down she also had such anger but he had to learn to control it, anger controlling the fight usually leads to death. Those with a calm mind in battle almost always prevailed over those who lost focus and let into the rage of battle. He told her to follow as she would she was curious just what he planned to show her, what could the young man show her. Tengoku had thanked her and apologized for going too far in a spar, she was glad at least he was being reasonable. They both appeared to be following the young man as she remained quiet she had a lot on her mind and realized she needed to make sure she did not lose her cool in battle either.

"I am sorry if it felt I was being mean I just want you to realize having anger control you in battle will only lead to you dying. I have anger deep down as well, but I won't let it control my emotions, I cannot let it do so, the second you lose focus and tunnel vision is the second you have lost the fight."

She was glad she had helped Tengoku arm as he offered to train her some which she would gladly accept, she needed a lot of training for sure if she was to protect Nyg and his children that remained alive. She wondered what could be so strong he demanded the man send his wolves home for, what exactly was he going to show the pair, she had a smile on her face. He was going to do something big she could feel it, kids and those young of Kage loved to show the power and maybe just maybe she could learn a thing or two from the boy. Her eyes watching every movement and ready to learn something new.

Stats and Jutsu:

For normal kids, the gentle reassurances from the two adults would probably have soothed their unstable hearts. But for Ashitaka, they only intensified the pain born by the sight of his friends' suffering. His mind offered first the hope of potentially bonding with them followed shortly by horrific visions of them lying in the hospital with their own set of Raiton-induced injuries. The "Will of Fire" was bullshit. He couldn't afford to get emotionally attached to anyone, least of all to people so well-suited to his heart as this humanoid wolf pack.

"You have no idea how much I want what you're offering," the clone muttered, having his creator's emotions but not his inhibitions. "You both seem like very kind people. But you'll just end up like them. The power I'm about to show you pales in the face of our enemies' champions, but everyone has been drafted for this War. A time will come when I'll see you two on hospital beds, recovering or dying from burned away flesh and shattered bone, and I can't take seeing that happen to people I care about again. I might lose my mind, and then Nyg-sensei will be right about me and I can't..."

He continued the conversation as though they'd never been separated, since Tengoku was so fast compared to him that they might as well have not been. When they arrived at the place where he was guiding him, some 200 meters to the complex's west, he summoned a vast wooden dome around the three of them with a dragon's face on the splittable roof. Then he made a few hand seals and placed his hands on the ground, and the dome's walls expanded, pulling apart somewhat to allow for windows from which those inside could view out.

"This should allow you to view things safely. Please do not leave the dome until it disappears." the clone said, then leapt through the roof and closed it behind him, securing the adults inside.

Ashitaka meanwhile started moving into position as far north of the faux district as the group including his clone was moving to its west. He wanted to make more buildings to demonstrate the full effect of the jutsu he was about to use, but frankly he just didn't have the chakra to spare, especially with a clone walking around. Well, then he just had to make do with what he had. This technique would be much more devastating in a proper city, but it would also be a war crime on an unspeakable scale. He was pretty sure that nothing anyone has done before, or will do since, would compare to the full effects of the Mass Violent Architectural Restructuring used within the limits of a major city. Granted, if Karifornia Island had successfully been dropped, then even his jutsu would pale by far in comparison to that. But that required the combined efforts of several powerful shinobi, and this was something he could do alone, assuming he wasn't caught in the process.



__________________________

Stuff:

Tengoku would listen to both the girl and the clone as they traveled. A glance back over his shoulder told him that the young Ashitaka was heading in the opposite direction. Whatever he was planning was going to be large and likely destructive. Though Tengoku found it odd that he would so readily show them his ace in the hole. Did he wish to frighten them or impress them? Tengoku would frown as it struck him that this was just a kid after all. Despite his experiences something had forced him to seek power and he simply didn't have the maturity to handle the responsibility that came with. The girl spoke and he glanced to her but remained quiet. She seemed to be more mature but had been placed into a bad bit of harsh training. Possibly causing serious harm for her in a search for more power. Still his arm felt better. If she were to remain conscious he doubted there was much she wouldn't survive in time. Still he would glance away as she mentioned anger and tunnel vision. It was true that Tengoku himself had a temper problem. He had been a shy and bullied child so there was a lot of pent up rage inside of him.

The clone responded and he discovered something he hadn't before. The clone was more forward and honest than the host. Did it's personality differ from the original? How odd an absurdity it was. Still he understood well enough about people in hospital beds. His sister was dealing with her own illness in her bed. Locked away in the east wing of their manor that they worked so hard to achieve. Living the lavish life they had worked so hard for. And now she wasn't able to enjoy it. He didn't think of her as a burden though. Most of their savings were her doing. Still he missed her....just wishing she would open her eyes. He would take a breath as they landed and watched quietly. A dome was risen around them with viewing ports. More like a bunker than anything. As the clone instructed them to remain within the bunkers protection Tengoku would chuckle to himself. Of course they would have to stay here. What was he going to do? Punch his way out through Senju wood? He supposed they could get out over time but for now the two of them were caged.

Tengoku would cross his arms and wait until there was no remaining chakra signature within fifty meters of them of the young man. His silver eyes watching through the viewing port. He seemed relatively calm despite all these precautions. Still he would speak to the girl next to him. His voice amused if nothing else. "Leave it to the young to seek to show off. You know, they say boys will do anything to impress a girl. Perhaps he fancies you? Either way to be honest I think openly displaying his most powerful technique is foolish. Any number of eyes could be watching and if it does indeed pale in comparison to our enemies, they may seek to destroy him for being a threat. Don't fret though. I'm sure you will report this to your master and I too will watch his back. We are more than simply savages after all."

She heard Ashi and he seemed to be preparing something big even building a structure for the pair to enter, she would nod as her eyes remained on, she wondered just what sort of madness he was about to unleash. This boy worried her with his words, he was not fit to be a shinobi, if he could not handle seeing someone hurt then maybe this was not the life for him. Either way with herself and Tengoku inside the building now she watched but it was clear she had a worried look on her face, those words he said really made her feel this was not good.

"Tengoku I really dislike those words he said, a shinobi cannot let themselves be controlled by emotions, and the fact he said he cannot handle seeing what he saw again... he may not be fit to be a shinobi. I know I am only a genin but this is my thoughts and I do not think they are wrong, but let us see what he plans to do."

Yui would watch carefully with her two tomoe active, this could be good or bad either way at least she would understand something new. This was her chance to see if she could actually copy something he did so far they both moved too fast for her to track and she did not have the skills to use those types of Jutsu.

"You know I have yet to have a sensei in this village, you seem like someone that can teach good Tengoku, maybe someday you should have a team. So far Nyg has not allowed me to be part of a team, we had a team very shortly but it fast fell apart due to the sensei retiring, and well since then I have had to learn everything on my own."


EXP30x11=330
-Exit Thread-

Stats and Jutsu:

Once he was sure the adults were safe, the clone moved into the center of the district he'd made on the fourth floor of the Grand Konoha Training Facility. It was time to begin the demonstration of what he was pretty sure was the most horrific jutsu he'd ever devised, and given his lack of intent to use it in real combat, he couldn't help wondering why he did. Maybe the Burned Man was having an affect on his head. Still, he didn't want to go through all of this setup for nothing, so he began making his hand seals: Rat, followed by Snake. Ashitaka, meanwhile, didn't need hand seals because the established Senju arts were just absurd like that. All he had to do was slam his palms on the ground. As a result, he had a slight advantage on his clone in terms of conjuration speed. Not that it was relevant for more than a fraction of a second.

Mokuton: Kanzeon Lotus King!

Mokuton: Mass Violent Architectural Restructuring!

What happened next would have been utterly terrifying and surreal for any civilian, even in the context of shinobi shenanigans. His two witnesses were of course made of sterner stuff, but he was sure even they wouldn't be immune to the sights. Underneath the original's feet, a massive statue with 102 hands, the "normal" pair of which were pressed together in front of it as one would expect of a monk in prayer. The rest were arranged in a radial pattern from a disc that followed behind the statue's main body. It stood roughly 100 meters tall, towering level with the massive buildings which it stood facing.

And then... the buildings stood up. Or fell down, depending on the nature of their transformations. Each individual one of them explosively relocated stairwells and support pillars outside of their walls to be used as limbs while other walls ripped open into jagged, unholy maws which emitted roars like cracking stone and wood. The metamorphoses were absurdly swift, as were the creatures produced by them. Each entire building was as fast as Tengoku. Were it not for the fact that his own statue had a hundred hands, he would have struggled to keep pace with their assault when they suddenly lunged at him. He still did. He didn't want to use this jutsu since doing so would exhaust him and destroy the demonstration, but the alternative was accidentally killing himself. And that would just be embarrassing as hell. So he clasped his hands together and the mokuton chakra surged through the statue.

Mokuton: Top Transforming Buddha!

As one, the hundred hands behind the statue surged forward in a broad wave, smashing through the building-beasts and sending huge splinters flying away from Ashitaka. They plowed into the ground at higher speeds than even the artificial creatures had been moving about, forming what could easily be seen as a crudely made graveyard as they were embedded in the packed earth. A handful even struck the dome which the clone had made to protect Tengoku and Yui, but they had slowed down enough by the time they reached it that they harmlessly, if loudly, skipped off the wood. And just as quickly as the apocalyptic cacophony had erupted around him, all had fallen into silence. He was too exhausted to maintain his jutsu, so they (including the dome) all poofed out of existence, save for the remains of the buildings which stayed in place to serve a reminder of what had just transpired.

Unfortunately, that included the 100-meter statue whose head he'd been standing on. As it ceased to exist, he fell limply to the ground with a loud thud. The impact broke a dozen or so of his bones, pressuring his Regeneration to start putting him back together. He was lucky to be durable enough that such a fall wasn't fatal, but it still hurt like hell and inflicted considerable damage. The clone's remaining chakra returned to him after it self-dismissed, but it was by no means enough to immediately return him to his feet. He lay on the ground forcing his breathing to remain under control as he stared at the absurdly distant ceiling and internally chastised himself for not having better control of the rate at which he spent his chakra. It didn't matter. Even the power he was wielding didn't matter, because no matter how much of it he developed, there was always someone with more. Regardless of how high he rose, there was always someone ready to step on him and everything he cared about and believed in.

With his mind dominated by these thoughts and having completely forgotten about the two adults who'd joined his training session, Ashitaka forced himself to his feet and began the long and awful journey home from the Training Facility.



[Attempted exit]

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[WC: 839]
Trained Jutsu:
Mokuton: Mass Violent Architectural Restructuring -20 CP (UA)

Also Used:
Mokuton: Kanzeon Lotus King -20 CP (UA)
Mokuton: Top Transformed Buddha -20 CP (UA)
Sensory: Sensing Technique x2 -1 CP

Senju Regeneration -2 CP

Exhaustion reached, all other jutsu banished.

Remaining CP 19/235

Tengoku would cross his arms as he watched the chakra preparations. Even from where he was as he focused on the ground beneath his feet he would extend out well beyond the distance that the boy had created between them. He could sense the chakra of both the main body and the clone as he listened to the girl speak. He could maintain both his concentration of the sensory and the conversation at the same time well enough. Still his fingers tapped idly on his arms as he did. She spoke of emotions being a bad thing for a shinobi to have and he would shake his head at that. His white hair shifting back and forth as he did. He didn't agree with that in the slightest. He had never believed someone too cold inside could save the world. There was a time and a place for it but in the end a hero had to have compassion. His words were soft though.

"I can't say I share your philosophy. I won't say you are wrong as each person approaches their own version of this world differently. My belief however is people respond more to compassion than tyranny. A quest for absolute power will corrupt absolutely. He likely began wishing to protect someone or something. It is when that something is lost that we lose who we wished to be. I don't know that I could keep my optimism if my sister were taken away from me. Or my spirited student Matsu. Power to protect or destroy. It is the same power but it is up to us to choose which we will follow. This young man has simply chosen destruction as his path. I do not know if your eyes sense chakra like my own sensory....but if it does, that build up of chakra he is forming is different. It lacks purity because it only has one thought behind it. To destroy anything before him."

Suddenly the demonstration would begin. Tengoku had to admit both techniques were truly impressive. The sheer destructive power and speed of both were impressive. If he had to fight this to the death he would not survive it as he was. It made it tempting to strive for that kind of power. To let his ideals go and reach for the power no matter the costs. However he would check his thoughts and unease quickly. He had begun as weaker than most. Gifted with a heightened set of senses but not much else. Tengoku knew he had built himself to this point with blood sweat and tears in the literal sense. He knew he could go even further too. He could train and get to new heights without abandoning his principles. That was his ninja way. Still after it ended and he felt the boy leaving exhausted of his chakra. He would let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. Unsure if those spikes would puncture the dome or not. Still he would turn to the girl an smile before speaking in return to her latter statements.

"I would be happy to practice and refine your taijutsu with you. Should you seek me out with your masters permission I can be reached at wolf manor. My student Matsu resides there with me but I ideally prefer one on one lessons. Losing nothing to a split attention between two people. That said this is where we part ways. Don't dally too long under this dome little Uchiha. Techniques, even creation ones like this one, do not last long after the caster has disconnected from them. He has already left the training grounds and now that you are safe I will be doing the same. I look forward to seeing you again." With that Tengoku would wink to her and through the port of the dome he was gone far to fast to easily be tracked. Like a gust of wind he was simply gone.

Exit thread
8 posts at 30 exp a post (2 thread partners and training area) = 240 exp