[Sora Minami]

Sora waited for the toad to perform his jutsu with a mix of patience and annoyance; annoyance at having made such an obvious mistake, yet patience for the (likely young) Gamatatsu to do his job. He, and his wielder, were both nervous, though likely for different reasons. The toad simply didn’t like to cause problems, but Ichigoni? Well, she’d come in this outfit to tease him, if only a little, but there was a clear line between playful teasing and putting it all on display, and with her hakama soaked through that was exactly what he got to see. All of it. At least I know he’s not immune to women now. Just… oblivious.

"Thank you, Gamatatsu." The Jounin said once her clothes were dry, sky-blue gaze shifting to her comrade as he spoke, answering her original question, albeit not clearly. When the man moved, though, his demonstration gave her a better understanding of what he meant- Raiton chakra crackled along the stake, focusing on the point as he cut upwards in a fair imitation of what she had just done, but not quite right. He had the basic concept down well enough, but the chakra molding… the molding needed work.

"That’s close, but you don’t need to worry about using the actual edge or point so much as making one out of the chakra." Sora paused to cross the distance between them, holding Samidare level with the man’s gaze as she poured raw chakra into it again, molding it around the edge and, indeed, forming a new one out of the chakra. If Ichigoni looked closely, he would be able to see that point where metal and chakra met- and the inch or so of raw energy beyond that point, narrowed down into a razor sharp edge that flowed down the entire length of the blade.

"See? It needs to be like this. Smooth, sharp, and slightly beyond the actual edge of your weapon." In his case, that would be the rounded surface of the stake, which he would have to form a cutting edge around rather than follow the natural shape of the weapon. Harder to do in some ways, but no less useful once he mastered the skill. Particularly given how few people would ever expect a blunt weapon to be capable of cutting through anything.

"Try it."

Uzumaki Ichigoni

[Uzumaki Ichigoni]

[googlefont=Crimson Text]

くたばれ
Gamatatsu smiled awkwardly, keeping his "thumb” up. Then the toad shuffled back a bit as blades started getting swung. He stood on the sideline, eyes peering around looking for insects to eat.

Using shape manipulation to create an edge. It was an interesting thought that Ichigoni hadn’t considered before. Usually, he was content with the ability of the stakes to keep people alive, but as he had gotten older he had gotten a good sense of which enemies were just a waste of time to capture. Perhaps after this he’d try his hand at honing several shape manipulation techniques to add a more lethal option of his repertoire.

"I haven’t much experience with channeling chakra that way, although I’ve seen things like the saber technique before. I think this may be easier for me than that, since it seems like I only have to exert that sort of chakra for a few moments,” he said. "Hopefully, my experience with channeling elements into my weapon will transfer over.”

He brandished the chakra rod and pushed his chakra into it as he lunged the weapon forward in a vertical slash, without having yet disciplined himself in the technique, a great deal of chakra would be expelled. Perhaps tipping off that like Sora, he possessed massive stores of chakra. His control over the shape however, failed him on his first real attempt. The chakra simply expelled out from the rod when he pushed it towards the tip, dispersing and losing its power.

He sighed. "My chakra control isn’t anything to write home about. I’ve always loved fuinjutsu because the shaping is something I can take my time with and see if I mess it up,” he said.

🗡️

[Sora Minami]

"It’s harder than the Saber technique, actually. A lot harder." Sora said as Ichigoni made an attempt at forming the chakra around his stake. It was a good attempt, but he made a simple mistake, one too many swordsmen made when trying to learn Kiretsu- one too many people made in trying to learn a lot of shape transformation techniques, truth be told. Well. At least he has room to grow.

"The Saber technique is about simple chakra flow; you charge a weapon with enough chakra and you have the Saber technique. Kiretsu, however, requires a steady flow, an unwavering shape transformation, and excllent timing." Sora hefted Samidare, holding it up at eye level as she spoke to the man, edge facing the ceiling. Water sloshed beneath her feet, but she didn’t really care about that right now- there was work to be done.

"You’ll want to try forming the edge first, before you start swinging. If you’re not used to shape transformation, even the tiniest bit of motion can throw your control off." It had been maddening, trying to learn Kiretsu back in the day; she’d spent months trying to integrate the technique into her arsenal before she’d figured out the secret. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take Ichigoni that long to piece the information together.

"It helps to visualize what you want to form, then mold your chakra." She paused, flowing her chakra into Samidare again as she demonstrated the steps to the jutsu, slower this time. First, the flow of chakra into the blade increased, the weapon glowing a faint blue as wisps of energy floated off of it- then, she focused it, narrowing it along Samidare’s edge until the two became one, or close enough.

"See?"

Uzumaki Ichigoni

[Uzumaki Ichigoni]

[googlefont=Crimson Text]

くたばれ
"I see what you’re saying. Perhaps I should learn the proper saber technique on my path to mastering this,” Ichigoni said, he paced back and fourth with his hand up to his mouth, thinking on their conversation and what they’d observed. "I can see how it could be more difficult, given the speed and the need to be more precise in the shaping, now that I think about it. Not having to maintain it long is a plus for me though, and I do have some experience with molding into weapons in general. So I think I’ll be okay.”

Taking a deep breath. He tried to slow himself down a bit, as Sora had. Ichigoni held the chakra rod in his hand vertically, raising his elbows up to chest height and canting the tip of the spear behind his head. As it came up he pushed raw chakra from his stomach and into his arms, then through the open palm beyond his gloves. Finally, it entered the sealing stake and coated it with energy.

He swung the tip of the spear forward, and the chakra rushed towards the tip, creating the desired shape as he brought it downwards. It might have looked right, but the chakra flickered and lost form at the apex of the motion.

"Not enough chakra this time, perhaps?” he guessed. "This is embarrassing, I’m usually a quick study.”

That was a lie. He usually had to throw a lot of himself into his learning. Odds are he wouldn’t walk out of here having perfected this technique fully, and he’d have to dedicate more time to it.

"Have you ever used it in battle?” the Uzumaki asked. "It seems like it could come in handy in a lot of situations.”

🗡️

[Sora Minami]

Sora watched as Ichigoni tried again- and failed, again, making progress but still not quite handling the chakra the way he needed to. It wasn’t easy, incorporating shape transformation into the striking motion of a weapon, not when you hadn’t practiced it before- the concentration required was enormous until you got used to it, and even then it still took a moment to call up the needed chakra. That there were no hand seals to learn, no way to help your control along save by doing it didn’t help matters either. Even so, he was doing well- better than she would have thought, given how little time he’d had to practice.

"It’s saved my life numerous times." The Jounin answered, Samidare sliding into its sheath on her hip as she spoke. Kiretsu had been one of those gateway techniques for her- once she had mastered its use, fights against ranged enemies had become… easier. Not trivial, but no longer the harrowing experiences they had once been. It has to be scared of a person when you could cut most of their best jutsu in half without breaking a sweat, after all.

"And as for what you’re doing wrong…" Sora said, crossing the distance between the two of them and grabbing the stake in Ichigoni’s hand in one breath. She lifted the weapon up to eye level, holding it even with the floor as she pulled chakra up from her stomach and fed it into his weapon, going slowly so he could feel what she was doing. It was his weapon, after all. He had a connection to it, same as she to Samidare.

"Close your eyes. Feel the flow of my chakra." The Jounin molded her chakra around the length of the stake, packing it densely where she wanted the edge to be even as she narrowed it off, forming a long, straight line from the tip to where her hand gripped the weapon. The excess she held, loosely, around the sides, not letting it drift but not forcing it anywhere in particular; so long as none of it bled off, the technique would remain strong.

"It’s like holding a sword. You can’t keep a tight fist on the whole thing or it won’t move right, but you do have to hold firm where it counts, along the edge."

Uzumaki Ichigoni

[Uzumaki Ichigoni]

[googlefont=Crimson Text]

くたばれ
Ichigoni had instinctively released the chakra stake to Sora’s hand when she came to grasp it, until she instructed him to feel the chakra flow. He lifted his hand back up, paused for a brief moment of hesitation before he wrapped his hand back around the rod above her own. He glanced at her for a moment with his single garnet eye before her instruction registered in his head.

The Uzumaki closed his eye and felt the stable current of chakra flowing past his hand. Feeling someone else’s chakra flow was a new experience for him. He’d never gotten much attention in academy and most of his father’s teachings involved the brush. The best way to describe it was like water pressure. He could feel that she was maintaining some amount of control but wasn’t restricting it so tightly that it could not flow. The end felt like a pouring stream that made a little pool where the excess chakra was being held.

"I see. I think I understand, at least in theory,” he said as he opened his eye again. Ichigoni released his hand from the stake, allowing Sora to keep ahold of it in case she needed it for instructional purposes.

He flexed his right forearm and another sealing stake slid from his sleeve and snapped into his hand. Taking a few steps away from her, the Uzumaki took a deep breath and lifted the spear above his head once more. He pushed chakra from his stomach and into his arms, then his hands. It channeled into the rod, too much at first, but he let the expulsion free and sent more chakra out until it felt like it did when Sora held the other rod.

When he pushed the spear forward, he managed to create the desired shape, giving the faint outline of energy of a blade-like shape at the upper end of the spear.

It seemed as if he’d executed it correctly, although perhaps too slowly for practical use. The time and chakra spent ‘tuning’ it wouldn’t be afforded to him in combat.

He looked back to Sora, to see what she thought and get ehr feedback once more.

🗡️

[Sora Minami]

Sora watched Ichigoni as she molded her chakra around his stake, noting the closed eye and the focused expression that flickered across his face. The confusion, the concentration, the slow dawn of realization- it all played out across his features in a subtle tapestry of emotions, until at last he spoke, letting go of the stake and opening his eyes. He spoke of understanding, at least in theory, and a second stake slid into the Jounin’s hand as he stepped back to try the jutsu again. She watched, examining the flow as best she could without getting too close, and waited for him to swing… and when he didn’t, she simply sighed, soft enough to be near inaudible.

"Better. Still slow, but better." She said, gesturing to the stake in her hand as she swung it, right to left, in a casual arc, chakra bussing through the blade in the same shape she had shown him earlier- but now, she spoke as swung, her voice calm and patient, as if she were dealing with a child who needed a bit of extra help in school. Which, in a manner of speaking, she was. "Part of that is just practice, but you also need to account for what the Jutsu is meant to do- if you swing the stake while forming the blade, you’ll eventually be able to use the momentum of your swing to fling the chakra down the weapon faster than if you tried to mold it all at once."

It would take practice, a lot of practice, but she was confident the Uzumaki could do it. He just needed time. Time and guidance.

Uzumaki Ichigoni

[Uzumaki Ichigoni]

[googlefont=Crimson Text]

くたばれ
Ichigoni watched her repeat the getsure once more. He did what he could to commit it to memory. Although he wanted to keep trying, he knew that he was running out of time for training today and that a good night of dwelling on the lesson would do him some good. He’d made substantial progress, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to fully develop the jutsu in one training.

"You have been an excellent teacher, thank you. I will continue to repeat your lessons until I have a solid grasp of the technique,” Ichigoni told Sora. He shrugged his shoulders back, and took the sealing stake that he had made back into his flesh. "Perhaps one day I can return the favor, should you ever start to dabble into the sealing arts.”

He closed his eye and paused for a moment. "I can’t be gone much longer. Hopefully, I’ll have it down by the next time we meet.” His eye opened and darted to the toad on the sidelines. "Gamatatsu, it’s time to go.”

"Aw, but you said we’d get manju,” the toad complained.

"Mmm. No I didn’t, maybe next time, sorry.”

He raised a hand to waive at Sora, and then turned about face and walked towards the door. The toad frowned and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

After the toad was gone, he turned back. "Thanks again. Any last minute advice for my follow up lessons?"

SPOILER: Click to show

Just realized I miscounted posts so we need another rotation after this. My bad.

🗡️

[Sora Minami]

"You are most welcome." Sora said, handing Ichigoni back his stake as she spoke. He had proved an apt pupil, if not exactly a conventional one; it was rare to find anyone in Kirigakure who utilized something other than a bladed weapon, let alone someone whose main weapon was a sharpened stake he kept in his own body. He was polite though, so that was something.

"I have a Genin who would likely be a better choice than me, but thank you." She had never been very good with seals, having only really learned a few (very basic) techniques to familiarize herself with the fundamentals, and even those had made her head spin with the sheer complexity involved in making the damn things function. The fact that the man was skilled enough in their use to teach them… Well, that was impressive.

"Remember the swing." Sora replied once Gamatatsu had been dismissed, miming the motion with her hand as she spoke for emphasis, "And don’t let the edge you make waver. It’ll take some practice, but once you get the form down you’ll be doing without much thought." There wasn’t much else to the jutsu, really, other than its limitations, but the man could learn about those in his own time.

"See you around, Admiral."

Uzumaki Ichigoni

[Uzumaki Ichigoni]

[googlefont=Crimson Text]

くたばれ
"Should they need a lesson then, I’m more than happy to help,” he said. Though it crossed his mind he may often be too busy to, but the sentiment was the same. "I’ll be at sea for awhile, it was good to be away from my subordinates for awhile…”

He made one last stop before exiting the threshold and laughed under his breath. Ichigoni decided not to withhold his thoughts for once, "It was fun to be the student again for a change. Thanks for showing me a good time.”

The Uzumaki quickly departed after his comment and turned a sharp corner, walking down the path away from the academy and back towards some temporary barracks closest to the gate. He’d be meeting up with an operations team that would escort him back to Gengetsu to board his ship.

Shape manipulation in and of itself was something he would refine. The non-lethal nature of his weaponry could on occasion be a hindrance, and it would be a fine way to bypass that weakness. Perhaps once he refined those fundamentals he would even be able to start using this powerful defensive technique Sora had introduced him to with ease in real combat.

🗡️