He had eschewed a shirt tonight, knowing he would just get a soaked in sweat and possibly charred besides. So his upper body was visible, which displayed the multitude of scars across his back. Scars he felt no shame in. The various brand marks from previous owners, each with a single diagonal mark through them to show the owner of that brand no longer owned him, were ugly things to look upon for most. Valen himself did not care, tended to not think of them actually. He simply wanted to progress, and fight. Calmly, silently, he engulfed his weapon in fire using simple chakra manipulation. The flames licking up the practice weapon and enshrouding it in a corona of heat and energy. Then, ensuring no one was in the blast radius, Valen swung the weapon. When he did he expelled the chakra from the blade and sent it out. With that motion he sent out an invisible wave of heat energy that was difficult for the eyes to track. It traveled and engulfed a tree in fire, seemingly from fifty meters away. To the casual onlooker, it would appear as if Valen swung his weapon and transferred the fire from it to the tree.
In reality Valen had extinguished the heat, using chakra manipulation to send that heat energy out in a wave that expanded, as heat tended to do. When that heat energy struck the tree, the natural fuel of the wood caught flame. The fire from his weapon had been extinguished as it was the catalyst for the heat energy required. “Hi no Hana: Blooming Flower..” He would say simply, sheathing his weapon before turning to look at some of the others in the grounds. Two genin were sparring with practice swords of their own. However their stances were wrong and they could not get the power in the blows because of it. Noting this, Valen moved over. Both looked at him warily, he was known to some in Kirigakure as ‘Valen of The Burning Blade’ and he had a reputation for elemental brutality in a fight. As well as being a member of the ‘Nightmare Brigade’ a militant mercenary group attached to Kirigakure that hunted down and executed criminals.
Still Valen said nothing until one of them spoke up, nervous tension causing the young man’s voice to crack. “S-Something we can help you with, Minamoto-san?” He would ask, a stutter to his voice. Valen was still a Jounin of the village after all and a certain amount of respect was required. However he was still feared by those who did not understand the Nightmare Brigade. “Your stance is wrong, both of you.” He would say simply before drawing the practice sword and tapping spots on the young man’s bodies to move them into place. A knee back hear, and elbow higher there, a grip adjustment here. “I know it’s difficult to always get the power when you shift your grip. For now those focus on getting the power normally and then practice doing so without having the perfect grip on the weapon. Try now.” He would instruct, prompting the two man to nod before they began their spar once more. Whereas before the sound of the training weapons clacking together was noticeable, if not particularly loud, the two weapons now struck with a much louder crack of impact. “Focus on the movements for now. Let your body get the muscle memory down. Then work on speeding it up. You’ll get faster, but don’t force it.” He would say, prompting nods from the two men. With that he would move away from them, moving toward a large stone and leaning against it. The two seemed immediately relieved when he left their presence. A normal occurrence but one he was certainly used to. Idly he’d take a water bottle out and take a pull from it. Considering his next actions.
[1]
- Jutsu Trained:
Name: Hi no Hana: Blooming Flower
Rank: A
Power: A
Activation Cost: 20
Upkeep Cost: -
Range: 0-50m
Speed: A
Element: Fire
Skill: Kenjutsu
Classification: Fisei Clan Exclusive
Requirements: Hi no Hana: Wreathed In Fire
Parent Technique: See above
Hand Seals: -
Description: While utilizing Wreathed In Fire the user swings their blade in a wide arc while the weapon is engulfed in flames. The point of this technique however is not to hit the opponent with the swing. As a matter of fact this technique works better if the user is at a distance. Blooming Flowers actual power is the thermal bloom behind the swing. Once the weapon is swung said thermal bloom will launch outward, causing a vicious, 3 meter tall, heat wave to radiate outward from the user. Said heat wave expands out in a wide arc from the user, reaching out to 50m away. The trick with heat is that unlike fire, it’s much more difficult to see, visible as a heat haze which treats an opponents perception as being reduced by 1 tier- (1 tier and one disadvantage) for the purposes of tracking the wave. Chakra vision and sensory of course can see and sense the chakra latent within the arc respectively. If struck those afflicted will take A rank fire damage. Furthermore, Wreathed In Fire is forcefully deactivated once swung in such a way due to the heat energy from the blade going to power the Thermal Bloom.
Weaknesses: Besides the exorbitant chakra cost found in having to pay for not one, but two techniques. The user has to reapply the base technique afterwards due to the forceful deactivation. Not only that but the user does in fact have to complete a ‘wide’ swing. With the full length of their arm, in order to launch the bloom outward far enough. For the sake of simplicity, if the swing is stopped in any way, the thermal bloom doesn’t just not reach it’s full range. But will completely fail to launch.