[Shouki Kumori]

… It was noticed pretty quickly, although one didn’t need the sharpest eyes around. Toru was no longer standing straight, but hunching over as if an animal. Clearly the influence of the Tailed Beast within him, turning the dignified Mizukage more and more bestial by the second… this… this was risky. Kumori knew that Toru was cooperating with the Three-Tails, but whether his body was able to withstand this much chakra released at once was another story.

"The more Beast you become, Toru…”

Even an old man like Kumori was never old enough to learn a new trick from his peers… or relearn an old trick he’d forgotten, or something like that. With a smirk, he simply let go of the Water-Walking Technique and allowed his large body to submerge underwater in an attempt to evade the charging human bullet. "The more the battle falls in my favor! Stay focused!”

Kumori’s body shot up from the water once more, while the two clones charged towards Toru. Both had weaved handseals before slapping the water, attempting to manifest the Water Release: Shadow Strike to launch two, katana-sized blades of water directly up from under Toru’s present position and towards his shoulders to slow him down.

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Shouki Kumori

Toru could hear, he was only on the brink. Not a total loss of control but definitely a sense of emotion that was very raw and unprocessed that was filtering out of him. On occasion he shook it off, reminding Isobu to fall back. They had to work together. The turtle played coy, but Toru was not a naturally emotional boy and so he did not release everything he had inside all at once. Or really at all, this was more of a test of his own abilities and control.

He barreled into the Shouki but missed by a hair, a slight sneer twitched at his features in irritation. He slowed in the water, kicking up liquid and steam all at once. The two clones sent two water jutsu to try and restrain him, to slow him. But it wasn't working as well as they had thought. Toru was horribly impenetrable at this at this stage, well he was already pretty impossibly sturdy in the stages before, but in this stage? It was a dangerous level for everyone around.

The teen shot through the katana's tossing them aside as if they were mere blades of grass, and instead catapulted himself towards one of the assaulting clones.

OWL

[Shouki Kumori]

The relationship between the Three-Tails and Toru was… confusing. And yet, prior experience prevented the Great Shinobi from associating the Three-Tails as much more than an impulsive creature, with all of the instinctual behaviors of an animal – self-preserving, self-caring, and with some sort of accumulated generational trauma. One couldn’t hate an animal… but you could condemn the destruction it caused, if only the destruction itself.

The Three-Tails caused such a terror back in the years… how did Toru feel being its Jinchūriki? To carry all of that on his shoulders… at such an age, too. An untold, unheard elegy? A brewing anger?

What a terrifying physical defense. The Bijū’s chakra had become so dense on Toru’s skin that it acted as a shield, effortlessly blasting away the water blades as if they were made of wood. So much power, and yet Toru’s environmental awareness was looking dull – Kumori knew that a fully aware Toru would remember the real Kumori who evaded earlier, then escaped the water at another position. It would’ve been easy for the Mizukage to deduce him as the real target…

One of the clones was too slow to evade the unpredictable charge from Toru, not even expecting the shinobi to find them as the real target. Why waste energy doing such a thing? Did he truly not realize it, or was Kumori’s maneuver too subtle? Either way, such recklessness had to be disciplined – even if Lord Toru was the Eighth Mizukage, Kumori had a duty as Councilman of his to straighten him up with the kind of advice he knew Toru would appreciate.

As Toru had attacked the clone, Kumori began weaving handseals. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… Hare, Tiger, Snake, Sheep, Pig… 6, 7, 8, 9, 10… Dragon, Horse, Rat, Hen, Monkey…

His handseals were numerous, but once the final handseal was formed with his hands, a loud cutting sound echoed across the entire lake. From Toru’s position, the clone he had catapulted himself towards had been tackled away into a cloud of smoke akin to what Shadow Clones were known for, but he’d quickly find himself surrounded by spinning walls of water. A vortex had formed around his position, with water spinning at such high speeds that it could tear flesh and bone off if an escape attempt was made.

The Tailed Beast within Toru had a new challenge to overcome – would its strengthened defenses allow him to escape the globe that had now surrounded him at all fronts? Or would Toru be able to think his way out of this one, akin to what he had tried earlier…?

For extra measure, Kumori even had the water underneath the Mizukage’s feet begin to move. The entire space around Toru was a spinning globe that quickly began filling up with water. The last act of the water that had yet to occur would be the compression – the act in which the water within would shrink the space occupied, until its density was ten-fold or twenty-fold. This would crush any average shinobi’s body to pudding… but this Jutsu was an S-Rank, and even with Kumori’s enormous chakra reserves, he was gritting his teeth with all of his might to make the Jutsu work. Someone like Toru could definitely find a way out that didn’t involve hurting himself…

Either that, or Kumori was yet underestimating the terrific power of the Tailed Beasts.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Suiton: Suitama Gekiha [Water Release: Water Globe Crushing]
RANK: S
CHAKRA USAGE: High
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Water
DESCRIPTION:
A very powerful advancement of the Suiton: Suiro no Jutsu, the user creates a huge swirling spherical vortex of water around their target, which can be large enough to capture large summons or massive groups of shinobi. The inner surface of the globe is incredibly hard to break, as it is constantly revolving at a very high speed, however it requires less physical force to break from the outside. The globe then slowly begins filling with water, eventually finishing after around 3 minutes, before in a single instant, compressing itself, thus quartering it's size and crushing everything within. Any regular humans caught within have almost no hope of surviving as anything recognizable as human, literally crushed into a pulp, whereas denser materials may escape with cracks, dents and heavy bruising. Even the bones of large animals such as Boss Summons while shatter under the immense pressure.

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Shouki Kumori

For Toru none of what he was doing, was an impulse. He acted with his mind in motion, though the thoughts were muddled with that raw emotion he felt constantly tickling at the back of his mind, making it difficult to see through the fog - the literal one and the proverbial one. He was struggling a little more now as he attacked the clone, easily destroying it upon impact it seemed.

He knew where his real target was, and yet he was hyperfixated on getting rid of the nuisances that were there causing him problems with his opponent. He *felt* as if he could not focus on the real Kumori, whether that was true or not. It was what he felt, and that was part of the problem. Toru hardly ever relied on feeling, he was more of a mind over feeling youth which meant even though he was still to some extent leading with some logic, these feelings were causing genuine issues.

But that did not matter because a clap was heard, a lightning strike it sounded like. It made Toru blink once, and look around, finally he saw it - though it was hard to ignore or to not see. A huge vortex with a whirlpool forming all around him. He knew of this technique but he had never tried to learn it, he did not think he could. His knowledge of Ninjutsu was not comprehensive enough to do so. His mind, however, was not clear enough to really consider any of these things.

Toru would act, attempting to escape but he found the compression far too powerful, it was a scrapping horrible feeling and though it did not affect him on the surface, Toru was still capable of feeling pain and he quickly stopped attempting. That enraged the beast inside, he felt the whirling spin of power loss in his stomach before he was engulfed completely by the water...

The only reprieve Toru had was the fact that his cloak literally boiled the water, causing it to steam and attempt to escape, pushing against the vortex the cloak strangely fighting the water pushing against him. There was also the added benefit that he could breathe underwater which meant that he had some time. But only just.

No. Don't.

He felt his palm press against cool glass where the beast sat inside the cracking bowl of water in his mind.

We agreed. Hold up your side of the bargain.

But Toru-chan... The beast whined like a petulant child, but seemed to shrink immediately at one sharp glance that Toru gave him.

Don't.

The rage subsided, it kept faltering, until the chakra receded, and Toru was back to a more standard, familiar three-tailed mode. Though he was not any less fearsome in this mode. In that moment, he knew what he had to do though it was certainly going to potentially put Kumori on the brink of death... It was an act, a decision made because Toru too was being put into a jutsu that could easily end his life.

So he made the decision.

But he needed some space, and he used an extremely powerful pulse a shockwave only those like him were capable of making, forcing cracks into the compression just enough for him to be able to form the hand seals on one hand to use the nearby mist that had been conjured and still clung to the area a technique that would start making it super difficult for Kumori to uphold the technique that he had imprisoned Toru in.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: O-jū no shōgekiha [Tailed Beast Shockwave]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: High
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: N/A
DESCRIPTION:
A tailed beast or Jinchuuriki taps into their large reserves in a burst of emotion. By either roaring, or a violent wave of the arms, the can send a powerful force of pressure and destruction that moves outward in a circular motion, with their body being its epicenter. For those who have minimal control, these are usually brought about when they are enraged in their Initial Jinchuuriki Form, or their Version 1 Chakra Cloak. The C-ranked version is capable of moving away Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and projectile attacks of similar power, while serving as successful Kai due to the rush of chakra for a range in all directions for 20 meters. The B-ranked version of the jutsu is attainable when they are in their Version 2 Chakra cloak, which pushes everything mentioned above in all directions for 35 meters. When in Full Bijuu Mode, the S-ranked version can do 100 meters.

NAME: Kirisame [Mist Rain]
RANK: B
CHAKRA USAGE: To Use: Low | To Maitain: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Kekkai Ninjutsu
Requirements: Kirigakure jutsu
ELEMENT:Water
DESCRIPTION:
Using the the mist jutsu as a base the user of this jutsu will disperse a mist like rain into a specific area, the mist like rain is not as thick as regular mist and can be seen through by those with above average visual ability. However this jutsu is not meant to impair vision as it is made to disrupt chara of those within the jutsu's influence this makes it harder for any chakra that is not the same as the users chakra signature to become weakened once it has become exposed. This causes jutsu to fail unless the user uses much more chakra then they usually do in order to counteract the disruption (making jutsu that have a Low chakra usage cost require a medium chakra usage cost in order to succeed). Also because the jutsu is mist and rain as well as the fact that it disrupts chakra fire jutsu does not work while this jutsu is active. Also attempting to successfully use a jutsu that already has a Very High chakra cost could be very dangerous and potentially fatal.

OWL

[Shouki Kumori]

Something was going on inside of the giant glob of spinning, compressing water. Kumori could hear it… sizzling, boiling sounds. Perhaps the Tailed Beast chakra was so fierce that it was boiling the water upon contact. The Three-Tails was also naturally adept around any body of water, so was he actually empowering it? Kumori couldn’t tell, but one thing was for sure…

This level of attack wasn’t enough to subdue him.

A sharp, small opening had been made – a small space, big enough for Toru to weave handseals with his one hand, was all it took for Kumori to notice a drop in his vitality. He felt so sluggish all of a sudden… as if his chakra was throwing a fit inside of his large body. It made him feel sick at first, losing a lot of precious focus as his S-Rank Jutsu was starting to lose form and loosen up.

So much chakra was being poured into the Jutsu- at this rate, he’d lose his reserves! He couldn’t afford to lose the spar like that, so with a heavy heart, he dropped the Water Globe Crushing and let all of the water fall back into the lake again. The impact would definitely raise waves all around its shores and create a short dust rain.

Kumori was visibly exhausted. Heavy, deep breathing… what a rare feeling. His body had been forged throughout decades to last for as long as possible, and yet Toru had brought him to such limits this quickly. Although, before continuing their spar, Kumori just… had to make sure, for himself.

"Lord Toru… *huff*… how are you feeling?”

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Shouki Kumori

Toru felt the first surge, a waver within the compressing water. It was the slightest tremor, and then suddenly the pool of water completely parted all around Toru and dropped the Mizukage down into the depths from the air. He hit the water hard, like a boulder and he had been weaker it might have injured his legs too. But he was lucky that he was stronger than that. Even if the impact did hurt pretty bad making Toru flinch into it curling a bit as the water slowed him down eventually to a full stop.

The young man took a deep inhale then, his lungs expanding and his body feeling free without the confines of the compressing globe. It was a powerful technique, not one Toru had experienced before. Had he not been in his shroud it might have been a little more dangerous. Slowly he started to swim up, or really float up and by the time he made it to the surface he found himself getting bludgeoned by waves whilst getting rained on gargling some water in the process as the shroud subsided and he sought momentary reprieve from the spar.

He focused some chakra, pulling himself up onto the surface fully though he remained on his knees totally soaked. The water dripped down from his hair and over his face. He shook his head much like a dog would to shake some of the liquid out of his head to get dryer before he glanced up towards Kumori who clearly was not doing so well after all that exertion.

So, Toru stood, waveringly but he stood and wandered towards the man to offer him a hand.

"Tired." He admitted begrudgingly. "We should stop for now." But he would not hurt Kumori's ego as much as to tell him that he looked like he was on his last leg even if he did. He just offered his hand and waited for it to be taken.

OWL

[Shouki Kumori]

The Mizukage was visibly shaken by the Jutsu, however… it brought Kumori a sort of strong sense of relief, despite his own exhaustion. He’d been able to push Lord Toru far, a man with a sensible cooperation with his Bijū, and subsequently shown the beast within what Kumori was now capable of. However, his chakra reserves were now at a low… and it brought the old man to a knee.

When was the last time that he felt this encumbered? It had to have been at the Sanbi’s attack on Kiri, where he got off with a near-mortal wound to his chest. Instinctively brushing his vest with one hand, he was reminiscent of that event and the chaotic prowess of the Sanbi showcased back then. Now…

Such an event would not reoccur for as long as the Sanbi was cooperating with one of their shinobi. Toru was on the way to become one of the world’s most powerful shinobi in due time… hopefully, Kumori was doing well in contribution to that.

"… Agreed…” Kumori nodded and accepted Toru’s hand to raise himself up from the water’s surface, "Any… progress with the Beast?” Kumori’s breath was heavy, and his owl-feathered vest was heavy with wetness, but he still managed to keep a tall stature even when he was unable to continue sparring.

"I’m your Councilor… and your sworn ally. But even an old bastard like me… can get worried for the younger generations. Regardless of how skilled they be…”

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Shouki Kumori

Toru would engage the muscles of his arm to help Kumori up to his feet, the man was significantly taller and larger than Toru which made him quite a tank to battle against and thus also to pull up to his feet. It probably looked a touch comical, this interaction of a young man pulling up a man who was almost double his height. Still, it was the fair thing to do, and he would have offered to carry Kumori if such a thing were physically viable. Alas, Kumori would require a summon to carry him and Toru had never signed any summoning contracts nor had any intention of doing so. It was a waste of one's energy he believed.

The leader did not refer to Isobu as a beast, not truly. They had been good, strong allies in the time that they had been together. Isobu had become a companion, and less of an intrusive monster that everyone believed him to be. The truth was that Isobu had not wanted to cause such chaos and destruction the day of his supposed awakening, and attack upon the village. He had been scared, and had wanted to run away and instead was attacked. Toru knew this now and though the lives that had been disrupted could not be brought back, he knew that he had to move forward and his job was to allow everyone to move forward by making sure that Isobu never caused such chaos in his country ever again.

"He is doing well. We are doing well, there is still much progress to make, but as with all things it is a matter of training." Toru nodded lightly and started to lead the way away from the lake and back towards town.

"We all worry for each other, at least we should. It is the nature of being an ally and a soldier protecting a nation."

OWL

[Shouki Kumori]

Kumori’s view of the Beast inside of Toru… was different from Toru’s own view. He wasn’t to blame, was he? Kumori would likely have seen the Beast as less… well, ‘beast’, had he been its Jinchūriki. Yet, that wasn’t the case, and Kumori’s interactions with the Beast were limited to these confrontations of violence and combat. Even from the last time they met was back at the attack on the village… but Kumori couldn’t read the Beast’s mind. He didn’t know exactly what its intentions were back then.

All he knew was that the scar on his chest was from it. A mortal event that he would not easily forget in his rather senile years… but he was old, okay? Old men had plenty of wisdom, but things changed at a rapid pace with new times approaching, and his duty was to pave the way for the next generations to conquer those new times. Toru was one of them – ahead of so many in his years, with the rest of his life ahead of him by far. He would do Kirigakure justice… Kumori believed so, deep inside.

Kumori took large steps due to his size, but each step was gentle and soft due to his lack of shoes. Roughened up as he’d been throughout his younger years, sandals were disadvantageous with his large feet, and it was also an attempt at practicing a certain technique. That, however, was for another day to unfurl.

"You speak truly,” Kumori replied, faintly seeing the silhouettes of the previous Mizukages – from the Second to the man-kid’s own, disappeared mother figure hovering over Toru’s form, "Kirigakure’s future looks bright with you in charge. Gives old men like me respite.”

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Shouki Kumori

They reached the shore in due time, and Toru's chakra felt fully relaxed at that point, as if he had let go of a breath he had been holding in his chest. No matter how simple, any kind of chakra manipulation required a hint of work even the slightest bit of it, so being on the ground not having to focus on chakra was actually a huge relief to his reserves - even if they were huge and not close to empty.

There was only the slightest hint of relief though, it was in the way his shoulders moved now, slightly less tense as if he was not immediately focusing on the swirling pool at his core.

Toru could not imagine what Kumori was thinking, and so he simply walked on. Though the compliment came out of nowhere, or so it felt to Toru, and it prickled him immediately. He was not one who took well to compliments, and frankly was not entirely used to them - in spite of the constant pomp and circumstance that seemed to take place around him with those that were trying to suck up to him as the leader. It rarely won them points, in truth.

Respect and slimeyness were far removed from each other.

"I do my best," It was true he worked himself to the bone in every aspect to make sure the village and nation were for the best.

"But without anyone's backing, I would be nothing."

He swallowed thickly, silently, thinking back on who he had been... How he had been born - Himura Toru. Not Kaguya. No leader. A kid in the slums with no prospects. He was determined to prove to those around him that he was more than just that and that he stood for everyone in the village not just for the wealthy and influential.

That he would do anything for those he swore to protect. Not that he would say it out loud.

[endish?]

OWL