[Honō Kojirou]

Kojirou had held a hammer before. This was way back at the border between, uh… was it the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire? Or was it the Land of Fields and the Land of Fire? Or was it the Land of Storms-

Either way, he remembered being of help there with the ability to spawn tar… although, it would’ve been nice to manifest cement as well, but he didn’t know any clan jutsus that allowed him to manifest cement of all things. Rubber, tar, globs, those things were alright, but cement?

But he didn’t need that – from one of the headquarters, Kojirou had achieved a construction helmet and an equipment belt, so that he could help out with renovating the village walls! Gotta keep Kusagakure safe, after all-

For the time being, Kojirou was turning his head around, trying to find his new teammate. Due to the nature of their mission, and the large amounts of bricks available at the outpost, a Jūryoku clan member was assigned to team up with him. However, Kojirou wasn’t just looking around the outside front of the HQ alone – a small lion cub was scooting around trying to locate this Jūryoku boy. "You see him anywhere, Hanatarō?”

”You haven’t even told me what they look like!”

"Oh…”

"I’m looking for an opening-"

"An opening? For wh- wait, Hanatarō? Hello? Where’d you go?!”

[juryoku yusei]

The city walls looked sturdy enough, but that came from Mr. Good Enough. Mr. Wonderful. In either case, the mission brief was right up his alley; He'd spent a few years just turning on his Hijutsu for manual labor. This'd be no different, but keeping to himself made all these names he'd wrote next to look unfamiliar.

His trek to the job site was quick, greeting the foreman with a rehearsed nod. He was met with the cheers of a few workers, like a beloved regular returning to the bar. There was even a half-joking "Here comes trouble!" refrain. Yusei put on a helmet, walking down with a flat triangular tool for spreading mortar.

The outer wall had, of course, large pallets of fired bricks. Nearby... no cement mixed. Not even a pot of quicklime and a pot of water. His eyes must've skimmed the document too quickly.

While he stood and spaced out, he saw the little lion cub. Yusei took a knee, staring half-lidded at it.

"...Are you lost?"

Honō Kojirou , 179

Pushin' off to feel lighter

[Honō Kojirou]

Hanatarō had run into the presence of a blondie- nay, his hair was greying out or something. The little lion cub was ready to call him out on it, too: "Ain’t lost! But how old are you, young boy?! I’m definitely older than you, b-but I’m definitely not as old as… as you, but… but you… you’re young, but you’re old-"

Charging towards the awkward Hanatarō was a shorter guy in a blood-red haori, flaming-brown long hair tied in a long ponytail, and burn scars on his forehead, an energetic Kojirou trying to intercept his companion. "Hey, don’t be mean to him, Hanatarō!” the swordsman rebuked the little lion cub, causing Hanatarō to bristle his fur and leap up in the air in shock.

"I-I wasn’t! I was curious!”

"… Oh, hello! Are you here to work with reconstructing the village walls, too?” Kojirou switched topic directly towards the workwearing shinobi with the bright hair, taking another look at his mission dossier, "I’m tasked with providing tar and adhesive material alongside an Inryoku user from the Jūryoku clan…” Switching his gaze between the dossier and Yusei finally made a bolt snap in Kojirou’s eyes.

"Wait, that’s you, right? Hanatarō, nice job!”

"See?! I was just doing what you asked me to do – now that my job’s over, I’m going back to my parents. See ya!”

And with a cloudy expansion of smoke, Hanatarō made his departure abrupt, swift and without warning, leaving the two shinobi to greet each other. "I’m from the Honō clan. My name’s Kojirou – let’s shake hands!” The swordsman stretched out his open hand towards Yusei, simply awaiting a friendly handshake from his senpai for today.

[juryoku yusei]

The lion cub talked, going off about his appearance. Yusei was about to raise an objection, but didn't talk over the thing. "Even going back before Tani, a lot of us have premature greying hair. I'm nineteen."

The thought of it made him want to shave his head sometimes, but he wouldn't do that until his hairline gave out on him. Then, Kojirou ran to the fore, causing Yusei to flinch. While it was funny to watch the lion and the boy do this, Kojirou snapped to right away. "...I've done this a million times. I didn't see you here, and I didn't see a big vat of quicklime, so I started to panic."

He stared half-lidded for a second. Yusei's eyes had dark rings, but the rest of his face was youthfully smooth. It looked like he never slept and never smiled.

Yusei's attention already drifted to the pallet of bricks, and his hands came together. Kojirou brought him back, right before he got off a Dog seal. Yusei blinked, and lowered a hand to shake his.

"...It's nice to meet you, Kojirou."

Honō Kojirou , 192

Pushin' off to feel lighter

[Honō Kojirou]

Premature greying hair?! Did that mean… that he was smart? Grey-haired people were often very intelligent, Kojirou had noticed that pattern. And since Yusei was his senior, Kojirou submitted any of his own competences to the superiority of his upperclassman with another bow. "No worries, I’m new here. I’ve worked on bricks and walls once before, so count on me! Oh, and we don’t need quicklime – I can make something stickier,” he explained happily, "But gotta bring the bricks over to the site… wait, that’s where you come into the picture, Yusei! Could you show me? I’ve never actually seen your clan’s Jutsus before… but I heard that you could, like, lift things with your mind! Like, you just lift them up in the air, or something – like Fūton, but without Fūton!”

To run through the general plan, Kojirou weaved a couple handseals and cupped his hands together. "And then, I can stick the bricks together, like this-" he revealed, his face bloating its cheeks up as if he was about to puke, until he poured dark-red, sticky tar into his hands – just a handful brought by the Black Fountain Technique from his clan. "I think tar’s gonna work well… but I can also mix quicklime into it!”

[juryoku yusei]

Kojirou was full of energy. He reminded Yusei of that boy he liked to spar with. He met him halfway with a grin. Then, Kojirou asked to see it. The thing his family treated like a secret weapon, that he waved around in a "do you know who my mother is" way. His grin widened into a smile. "I don't see any harm in it."

Yusei stood with his feet planted shoulder-width apart, forming two hand seals with stiff fingers. Dog. Hare. He then pointed at a brick in the center of the pile with a finger. As soon as Yusei walked over and picked one up, they all started to slowly rise like particles of dust. He then scooped up an armful, careful to keep the brick he'd "marked" curled up in his hand. He gestured with his other hand for Kojirou to walk over to him.

And then... It looked like Kojirou threw up. All over his hands. He wanted to laugh, but Yusei held back a little. He started to trail off, expecting Kojirou to walk with him to the foundation of the wall.

"...If that's what I think it is, we don't need another binding agent. I think you'll be fine."

Honō Kojirou , 301

Pushin' off to feel lighter

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Sukunai jūryoku [Less Gravity]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low {Continuous}
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
HANDSEALS: 2, Dog → Hare
DESCRIPTION:

A gravitational field is thrown outward of the user. Each field that is made can surround one object or person. Light weight objects will float while heavily ones, people, will feel lightened. This can increase their speed, but punching power will be affected if it isn’t properly compensated for. The item has to stay within the range of fifty feet of the user or the jutsu will dissipate.

[Honō Kojirou]

Sparkling eyes, very brightly sparkling eyes manifested on Kojirou’s face as Yusei agreed to showcase him the secret power of the Jūryoku at long last. Was it going to be exactly what he imagined it to be? Floating objects of all kinds – or was Yusei going to make Kojirou float up in the air?! Like a balloon?! Ohhhh boy, that’d be so awesome! Like being able to fly… wait, were the Jūryoku able to fly?!

Yusei performed the Dog Seal and the Hare Seal before pointing at a seemingly random brick at the pile, to which Kojirou awaited the next instance… but Yusei went over to pick up the brick physically, confusing the swordsman at first. "W-Wha, wait, I thought… OH!” Kojirou expressed, abruptly surprised by the fact that all the other bricks began floating up the moment he picked up one. He finally witnessed it… Inryoku!

Wiping his hands, Kojirou quickly hurried over to the floating rocks and picked up a handful himself, helping out Yusei carry them to the site – it was strange that the bricks weren’t floating along with them on their own, but maybe that wasn’t how Inryoku worked. "Tar will do, then! Hopefully, the wall’s not too bi-"

…

The wall was going to be tall. It was following procedures borrowed from Hohei-chō, so there was that… and walls were supposed to protect the village in a way. Letting go of the floating bricks, Kojirou looked at the foundation that was already laid with bricks and cement, holding up just one hand. I hope I can use these weird one-handed seals for bigger Jutsus… he prayed before weaving the half of 3 handseals.

His cheeks puffed up again, before he spat out a significantly smaller amount of sticky tar from his maw, covering the surface of the foundation bricks. Huh?! Wait… I did need less than normal… so it works! Awesome! he jubilated his mistake turned strategy, utilizing a slight waste in chakra from imbalance due to needing more training in one-handed handsealing to manifest less tar for Yusei to staple bricks onto. Once he was done spitting, Kojirou gave the signal: "Tar is ready!”

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Yoton: Kuro Izumi [Lava Release: Black Fountain]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Yōton
HANDSEALS: 3
DESCRIPTION:
Kneading chakra within their gullet the user will spray a stream of black sticky tar onto an opponent at relatively close ranges within 5 meters. The technique does little to harm the opponent by itself. It restricts movement based on coverage but could potentially obstruct vision or breathing based on where it hits. Once applied, it is difficult to remove without the use of vigorous scrubbing and water/suiton.

[juryoku yusei]

Kojirou's projectile vomit looked to be exactly what they're looking for. "So what I'm thinking is. I'll use that Tree Climbing jutsu to stack the bricks high, and you'll hold them in place. We can leave sanding off excess tar to the ashigaru."

Yusei kept that brick he'd marked curled up tight, but otherwise he laid down a straight line of bricks. Whistling for Kojirou to lay down another layer of tar, Yusei went and grabbed one of the ashigaru. One of the other contractors.

Holding the one brick tight, he walked over, the two each holding armfuls of clay brick. Yusei knelt, setting them down. He ran back to grab more, setting them just before the foundation of the building.

"...I have to be careful here. I kinda... forget the seals sometimes, and this is the one jutsu I know that wouldn't make this situation worse."

Honō Kojirou , 243

Pushin' off to feel lighter

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Sukunai jūryoku [Less Gravity]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low {Continuous}
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
HANDSEALS: 2, Dog → Hare
DESCRIPTION:

A gravitational field is thrown outward of the user. Each field that is made can surround one object or person. Light weight objects will float while heavily ones, people, will feel lightened. This can increase their speed, but punching power will be affected if it isn’t properly compensated for. The item has to stay within the range of fifty feet of the user or the jutsu will dissipate.

[Honō Kojirou]

Kojirou rose a thumb up in agreement to Yusei’s little plan – he’d keep holding the bricks in place, while the upperclassman would continue stapling bricks on top of each other, until their precious wall was finished. "More tar coming your wayyyyyyyyyyy!” Kojirou called upon the whistling signal, scooting over towards Yusei’s current location on the work-in-progress wall and weaving the same handseals again – unlike Yusei, Kojirou was more than attuned with his Kekkei Genkai and was perfectly comfortable with vomiting tar from his gullet to cover the next bases of the stapled bricks. That way, Yusei could quickly attach new bricks, and the pattern repeated itself.

… Surprising comment from Yusei, which made Kojirou’s head release a question mark floating in the air. … Wait, what does that mean?! Are the bricks about to fall down?! he panicked, turning his head around to spot Yusei again – this time, he was in the company of an Ashigaru, and they were carrying more clay bricks to the site…

Wait, so if he could do that… then these bricks were safe and sound! No need to worry, Kojirou!

…

Soon, the wall was finished – took more than a day’s work, obviously, but Kojirou was more than satisfied with the result. Now, he didn’t know what a top-tier wall looked like, but if he were to rate it… 9 out of 10. "Does that mean I’m a stonemason now, too? I can build my own walls now?”

[juryoku yusei]

Kojirou's precision came in handy. With the plan he'd laid out, the wall would hold during all-out war well enough. He glanced up at it with a small grin. "Nice. Thanks."

Yusei kept relaying bricks for Kojirou to blast into place. Come to think of it... He called to the team of Ashigaru helping him haul armfuls of fired clay brick. "...We're working with lava here. That's a liquid layer of rock. We don't need sandpaper like we do other binding agents. This can be another layer of defense."

He then gave a wry grin, stopping to address Kojirou. "I can scale up my jutsu to raise the power of gravity, or make a place the center of it. If I... slipped up and did the wrong hand-signs, as I sometimes do, we would both wake up with concussions from the bricks."

Kojirou's pep in his step was admirable. As the wall slowly mounted, with Ashigaru on wooden ladders and Yusei using that classic Tree Climbing jutsu to scale the side, the team slowly padded out a complete wall to defend Kusagakure. He smirked at him, folding his arms.

"...If this whole "shinobi" thing scares you straight, you'll find a home on a construction crew, easily. These men work until their bodies fall apart, and you'd make their lives a whole lot easier."

Honō Kojirou , 319

Pushin' off to feel lighter

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Sukunai jūryoku [Less Gravity]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low {Continuous}
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
HANDSEALS: 2, Dog → Hare
DESCRIPTION:

A gravitational field is thrown outward of the user. Each field that is made can surround one object or person. Light weight objects will float while heavily ones, people, will feel lightened. This can increase their speed, but punching power will be affected if it isn’t properly compensated for. The item has to stay within the range of fifty feet of the user or the jutsu will dissipate.