[Honō Kojirou]

Stupid pirates making things troublesome for everyone…

Kojirou’s trip to the Land of Wind with Itsuki ended with intel leading to something bigger, but for now, it was left in the hands of the higher-ups. However, the swordsman caught wind of preparations for the next annual Chūnin Exams, and thus he had to catch up on some more skills until then. That was one of the reasons behind taking another mission almost the day after…

The skill he was practicing with Itsuki… these one-handed shenanigans were starting to make more sense, especially after Itsuki did him such a big favor and plucked the key pieces of Kojirou’s attempt at explaining shit, before weaving them together in a more feasible description. One-handed seals, much like two-handed seals, helped the user weave their chakra internally via applied focus in some fashion – while the details of the exact nature of chakra was yet cloudy, the fact that visual ‘praying’ gestures such as handseals had such an effect meant that weaving chakra was, theoretically, possible to some extent without handseals…

Some Jutsus out there didn’t require handseals, after all – like the Split Trunk Technique from his clan… okay, maybe that one borrowed seals from the parent-jutsu, but that didn’t matter! Kojirou was yet determined to master the use of one-handed seals, and so far, he was trying to get more and more used to do one-handed seals with small, chakra-cheap Jutsus…

…

One of which was a simple Lava Release Technique that allowed him to manifest a hand-sized glob of molten rubber that Kojirou could use chakra to mold into people or items. For this glob, in particular, upon staying on a large merchant ship that he was tasked to guard, paired with a Konoha-nin whose face he vividly remembered from last year’s Exams… he felt like making a rubber figure of a coiled-up snake.

But since he was using one-handed seals as a means to practice… the snake looked a little too blocky. Not smooth enough, not slithery enough. Upon inspecting his three attempts at creating a rubber snake figurine, he sighed in defeat and waddled over to his partner with all the innocence of a sparkling rainbow on an early Kusa morning.

"Whatcha think? I’ve been practicing on molding figurines lately, thought you’d like it.”

[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

Yakitsukeru had absolutely no quantifiable words for this young man from Kusagakure. On one hand she was entirely convinced he was seriously incompetent, on another she was certainly he had something wrong with his brain. On either hand she was certain she would need to carry them both on this pirate extermination and she was displeased by either idea. Having come back from Kaminari equipped with the weirdest set of weapons to her inventory, but possibly her most fitting weapons of the bunch; Hammers. Blunt force often took people off-guard, more so when they were in the style of a Kusarigama, an odd weapon called a Meteor Hammer, Yaki had been tasked to only rely on it if she could, she had little intention to break that outside of her weights. Though if she had the time she was gonna use the seals she did know. While Kojirou had been crafting his rubber snakes, she had been working on making a pair of Ōbun Neppa [Oven Heatwave] seals on the heads of the meteor hammer. Seeing the opportunity as a good time to set up at least one trick before she entered into the gauntlet with the sea bandits. As she finished making the second active she would loosen the chain so the weapon sat loosely where it was supposed to over her shoulder. Throwing the weapon up to spin the head to feel the weight of it. It was actually rather hefty, but Yakitsu would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy the heft to some degree. Enough to crush a skull if she needed to, and more then enough to break someone's bones otherwise. Finally glancing over as Koji spoke she would shrug from beneath her scarf and haori, "Itsss a good attempt, but I don't think thisss isss the limit of your abilitiesss. However, don't wassste your chakra on unnecesssary jutsssu when we are about to be fighting banditsss Hono-Kun." TAGGED | Here NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

AI ♥

[Honō Kojirou]

Holy shit, that meteor hammer of hers was absolutely amazing. For a brief second, Kojirou was fully enamored by its visible levels of weight as Yaki had spun it around prior, pondering if he should get one such weapon himself. A katana, or a kodachi, was alright, but… like, why not more?

Unfortunately, while it was a good attempt in her words, there was room for improvement. Kojirou had already decided to practice a little more, but Yaki adviced him to save his chakra for the actual mission, to which the red haori-clad swordsman nodded rapidly. "D-Don’t worry! I still got plenty of chakra to spare, I won’t let you down!” he insistingly assured her, ascertain of the dangers awaiting them out at sea. Pirates…

The damn scoundrels of the sea. Basically sea thieves, but with much more firepower. Many had gotten access to shinobi weapons and tools, but according to intel, none of them utilized Jutsus. Kojirou had fought pirates once before, and despite their shortcomings, they desired to pirate until the very end… which made them terrifying. Therefore, this time, Kojirou wouldn’t hold back.

…

Kojirou decided to spend the rest of the time in a cross-legged position, pondering over things. He would’ve summoned Hanatarō to kill time, but the little lion lad didn’t like boats. He’d have to stay home today.

At one point, he rose up on his feet and reached a higher point on the ship – leaping up on its mast – to scout for any other ships approaching them. They were pretty far out at sea now, and the ship did hold plenty of valuables in the form of fresh crops and equipment. "… ?!” Up front, no ships were in sight… but these pirates happened to be cleverer than that.

Behind the ship, Kojirou spotted flaking, bluish… fogs? Some dots of foggy mess were approaching from behind the ship, so the swordsman immediately leapt down and darted towards the rear end, alerting everyone: "A bunch of weird, foggy things are approaching from behind! Take cover!” All the sailors began packing things away and entering the inside quarters of their ship, hoping that they could stay out of the way of the two shinobi who were assigned to protect them.

Once he reached the rear, he glanced over the edge and… could only see the violent, waving waters again. "… Huh? Where’d they…” he questioned, having a harder time spotting the flaky imitations of waves on the waters brought by optical illusions… made by reflective blankets that the pirates were covering their small boats with.

But Kojirou’s first impression was that they’d turned invisible, so he picked up a small, round Senbon Bomb and flicked it towards the waters quite a distance away from the large ship. Next, he performed the Snake seal and released the senbon sealed within the round bomb, causing something strange – many flickering forms appeared from the waters, until it was revealed that a bunch of small boats held pirates - bleeding from a few senbon lodged into their arms - which threw off the reflective carpets that they were using to hide their forms.

"There they are! I knew I wasn’t just seeing things!”

[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

Yakitsukeru had been mid start to say more to the boy when the enemy did a pretty close approximation of an actual moving invisibility cloak on the ship they were upon. It was clever for a bunch of untrained heathens. Though she had to wonder, was Kojirou going to be capable of taking down all of these people with just her for back-up? Yaki's role in a fight had often been area destruction in the very few missions she did because she relied exclusively on explosives in a fight. Something that most found somewhat appaling, but it was effective when it needed to be. As Kojirou tossed in a bomb she figured it fine from Kizumi's perspective if Yaki lowered the number of threats that would make practicing her weapon hard to be acceptable and pulled one of the few scrolls she had kept on her body, a booby-trapped fire scroll, "We focusss on the boatsss to our left, I'm removing the shipsss on our right before they ssstart throwing ropesss." Yaki would say as she threw the scroll between four different ships on the right side. Setting off the scroll with a seal the paperbombs exploded before the fire sealed within would cover the boat and its people. A dangerous tactic that the girl had chosen to take given that she didn't exactly enjoy combat, but it was coming regardless and they were the two hired to deal with the pirates anyways. As long as the job was done, then all the ways that were needed for it to be handled were fine! Taking the first head of her meteor hammer and spinning it on its chain to build momentum Yaki waited for Kojirou to move before responding with action further. TAGGED | Here NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

AI ♥

[Honō Kojirou]

Turning to their left, Kojirou took a mental note of the number of boats headed for the side of the ship. "Got it,” Kojirou replied back quickly before making his way to the edge of the deck, realizing that many were still employing reflective screens to hide themselves… but it wouldn’t work anymore.

Equipping four shuriken, Kojirou swiped them off and watched all four lodge into a couple screens, revealing two boats, each containing 3 pirates. Should I jump down to them? Or should I force them up here? Kojirou pondered while cupping his chin. If he could remove their boats, then they’d have to swim a good dozen meters, get wet and heavy – not to mention tired – and climb all the way up the ship… bingo.

And now that he’d practiced back in Land of Wind with Itsuki, Kojirou felt confident in utilizing merely one hand to weave handseals… but this time, he used both- but not the normal way! Instead, he held each hand separate from each other and weaved a pair of one-handed seals, manifesting four Lava Shuriken in each hand. This Jutsu of his which he’d held for so long… he could barely feel any loss in his chakra pool.

Tossing them off as well, Kojirou achieved the terrifying result of burning their small boats down with the spilling lava, even burning the legs of most pirates who stood upon them. The others sought to the water, immediately struggling to keep afloat and panicking now that Kojirou was free to walk down to the water’s surface and slice their heads off. This also meant that he would be out of range for Yaki’s meteor hammer – bonus!

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Yōton: Yōgan Shuriken [Lava Release: Lava Shuriken]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Yōton
HANDSEALS: 3
DESCRIPTION:
The user creates 4 shuriken composed from molten rock and flings them to the enemy at a short range. By using chakra the user can only roughly control/change the trajectory of the shuriken which can easily cut and burn through rocks, cloth and flesh without losing much momentum, while also providing a great distraction against an enemy.

[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

The girl got the sinking suspicion that Kojirou was not the sharpest tool in the box. Something that was somewhat notable given that she had watched him get pummeled in during the last chunin exam. Perhaps she would help him learn to multitask? Just maybe, it was not like she was going to get much training out of this in comparison to the young swordsmen. After all her proficiency lay in setting tricks to her weapons, not the usual weapon skills of swordsmen or buki experts like Kizumi. Keeping the meteor hammer in motion she would watch as the boy, similarly to her, made the various boats sink with little need to worry. Wood was, after all, incredibly flammable and lava was one of the last things that it had any business being able to handle. Splattering the decks of those ships Yakitsukeru watched with fascination, so this was the combination of fire and earth - her own basic elements, as an advanced release. She had to admit she found it interesting at the very least, but the level of destruction it could probably cause was not what she cared about. It was intriguing for what it represented within genetics and the function within them, and it made her feel more then ever that Sage Mode would be her own inheritance that she could eventually show off. Turning to the boy as she moved to join him at the edge of the deck with her weapon swinging in a tight circle she would ask him a question from nowhere, "Why do you fight and kill Hono-Kun?" TAGGED | Here NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

AI ♥

[Honō Kojirou]

Kojirou had covered this side of the view from the deck in quite a lot of corpses now, but if these pirates were ready to kill them for a cheap price, then he was ready to kill them to protect the sailors that they were tasked to protect. Leaping up to the deck again, Kojirou took another look at the bloodshed… and bowed apologetically before looking around. He was content with his results, and this side of the ship was safe now.

Watching Yakitsukeru join him drew his eyes intently towards her swinging weapon, marveling its skillful use… but he was taken aback by her out-of-nowhere question. A question that immediately reminded him of Ahma and his conversation with her. "… I don’t particularly like it,” he decided to answer in full, glaring at his drawn katana and its orange glow, "But… I have a goal. A goal that I can only reach as a shinobi… and shinobi kill. Thus, so must I. Even if it bothers me…”

… Huh, oddly quiet now. But never say it’s over until it’s over. Keeping a close eye to the wide ocean, Kojirou decided to return the question: "Why do you fight, Tateyama-kun?”

[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

A rather intelligent answer from a rather dimwitted man. Yakitsukeru could appreciate that the young Kusagakure shinobi was at least aware of himself enough to know when he could and could not do. Though his answer struck her was rather wishy-washy as well, an excuse as much as it was a goal then perhaps? She would proceed to pull in her meteor hammer to a much tighter and laxer spin to keep some level of momentum running even as she shifted to look at the young man with a rather tired gaze, appraising him more thoroughly. "I sssee we are sssimilar then. I have great dissstassste for thisss life, but we do not decide the handsss we are dealt in our youth. I did not asssk to be disssfigured, and I doubt you wished to be a shinobi originally either. Yet both of usss are, to complain or detessst that isss frankly ssstupidity in and of itssself," The girl would shift on her heels to head back to the other side of the ship, their reprieve most assuredly temporary in the halt of the scum on water. Settling her gaze over the side of the ship she would watch and continue her response, "Goalsss are good Hono-Sssan. I can appreciate that about you at leassst, but they should not be your excussse to look down on your own decisssionsss. You are the one walking your path, ssso accept nothing asss anything except your own decisssive calculation. Asss for my own reassson, I sssuppossse my namesss meaning ssstatesss it all. I desssire to be remembered dessspite my ssstation, ssso I crawl to walk, and I will walk to run, and run until there isss nothing more but ash. Doesss that not sssound like the correct way to live and ussse power that wasss thrussst upon you by another'sss decisssion to bring your exissstance to this world? Kojirou-Sssan?" The barest hints of more boats, larger vessels crossed the horizon. Only two, but they were obviously the main force, they would need to be careful soon. For now they talked. TAGGED | Here NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

AI ♥

[Honō Kojirou]

Huh… she sounded genuine, but it worried Kojirou quite a bit. Her answer conveyed some anger… but it was swept away. Yaki sort of nihilistically accepted the card she was dealt, also referring to her disfigurement – the mouth thingie that he caught a glimpse at back at the Exams…

Mhm… sometimes, it did sound like the most logical reaction – just live with what you have. But it implied that no change could ever be made… or at least, that they weren’t obligated to. But it turned out that he’d misunderstood, at least according to her as she clarified her thoughts from the other side of the ship – to look down on his decisions up until this point was detrimental. Whatever would happen in his life… he’d have to accept it as his path, his decisions. He couldn’t turn back time, after all… so he shouldn’t burden himself with the impossible.

"Hmh… fair enough, I guess,” he answered while gently scratching his cheek with a finger, feeling a bit left in the open with such a mindset. "To be honest… I’d likely still choose to be a shinobi, in the end. Hopefully, one that can change some things.” Listening to her reasoning, Kojirou was reminded of her name and its meaning – Yakitsukeru… to leave a strong impression. Did her parents plan this?! No way, it sounded all like her very own thoughts, her very own agenda… she had a single-minded path in front of her, and she wasn’t wavering from that.

It was… pretty admirable.

"… That sounds… obvious, really! Yeah, I can definitely agree with you – why not try our best, in the end?” he enthusiastically replied with clenched fists, "I won’t let my doubts hold me back from reaching my goal! None of us should, really!”

[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

It seemed that Kojirou for as thoughtless as he appeared had some amount of common sense at the very least. A sentiment that Yakitsukeru found to be pleasing on her pallet even as they continued to stand vigil on the encrouching ships as the other vessels simply burnt into the ocean. Killing was never a past time nor meant to be held in some ideological manner as a grand act - religion that spouted such beliefs being some of the grimmiest scum in her own crimson eyes. "I am glad you are easssy to sssee reassson Kojirou-Sssan. I lack your enthusssiassstic attitude on the matter, but it is regardless a good sign in regards to your future as a shinobi. Let no one lead you astray from that conviction, not even yourself. After all a man truly only ownsss hisss thoughtsss in life, if you allow them to break you then you are the definition of pennilesss," Yaki would reply as she took a deep breath and set a weight seal to the end of her meteor hammer. Roughly a hundred pounds was something she figured she would handle throwing around if she removed the weight of her haori. It was rarer for her to go for brute force, but they had ships to break and burning everything apart was just not conducive to her growth in the field of weaponry. The boats came closer. TAGGED | Here NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

AI ♥

[Honō Kojirou]

”I lack your enthusssiassstic attitude on the matter-"

"Aww…”

"-but it is regardless a good sign in regards to your future as a shinobi.”

"Oh!”

Yaki had some gold nuggets of food for thought. Whatever Kojirou was dealt in life, in the end… it meant it belonged to him. His blade, the blood on his hands, the clarity in his heart and the confusion in his mind, his naivety, his fears… they were his to work with, not the other way around. He shouldn’t let doubt stop him from trying to reach his goal… and he would reach his goal, one day.

… The boats were still approaching, seemingly only encouraged by the deaths of their comrades. "Hey! If I were you, I’d turn tail right n- argh, what am I thinking…?” he tried to warn them one more time, but remembering that these guys had been at this business for quite a long time, it was certain that they had no regrets in the terrible actions they’d committed. In a way, that was the same mindset he wanted… but was it, though? A bit extreme, in this case…

Either way, he would have no regrets either. Planting down his Katana Case, Kojirou weaved a handseal and unsealed one of the 20 sealing tags on the top while angling the case like a missile launcher. A humble rain of well-aimed cheap swords came flying down at the men, poking holes in their small boats and stabbing through a few. These swords were brittle, so Kojirou didn’t mind if they picked them up – they’d shatter at the might of his own katana, in the end.

"Anyone coming from your side?” Maybe they’re gonna try and sneak in from the front, too… I mean, it's the most obvious spot, but still.”

[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

Yakitsu was watching her side as Koji rained steel into the coming enemies. She personally had no intention of doing that same sort of quick relief to the pirates. However, the ships from before, other then the ship Kojirou now stood dealing with, had turned keel and ran. Leaving them with only the small remains of the scouting ships burning on their self made pyres as the boats ate themselves. The flames a good sign without the movement of men that she had succeeded in her job at the very least. "No one. I believe we have frightened any further attempt at the port for the time being Hono-Sssan. That isss a good sssign for our completion of the misssion. Perhapsss then I can finally head back to Kumogakure for more active training with Kizumi-Sssama. I only came due to being requesssted on thisss misssion in particular," Yaki would state as she relaxed back to a calmer state of being - the meteor hammer being unfurled from her person and placed very particularly on her scroll holsters. Turning back to her teammate she walked over and surveyed his own damage to the last ship in the mist, a nod of approval given for the job he had done. TAGGED | Here NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

AI ♥

[Honō Kojirou]

Huh… not many of the pirates were able to capitalize on the falling swords. As a matter of fact, many of them were turning back and sailing away from their client’s ship. Only the last one that he’d coated in swords was left, with two pirates trying to pry off the katanas for their own use before sailing off.

"…” Those swords were pretty cheap, but… y’know, this was quite some waste of metals. He should get those swords back, and that was what drove Kojirou to manifest a Tar Clone next to him. The tar escaped his hand as a clot after weaving 3 handseals, which then grew into a humanoid figure, morphed into a replica of himself, then leapt onto the surface of the sea to pick up the floating blades.

Meanwhile, the boat with the two pirates quickly burned a hole through its deck and sank. After the blades were recollected, Kojirou watched other pirates pick up the struggling fellows and sail away. They were likely going to come back again soon… so he’d stick around for a bit longer. Just in case.

Gladly, nobody else came from Yaki’s corner- wait, she trained under Kizumi-sama too? "Kizumi-sama? You too?” he lit up like a child once more, "I’ve trained under her too!” He had more than enough chakra to express his admiration for the Raikage, so he weaved a handseal, blew air into his hands, then out came another rubber figurine replicating the proud figure of Hirana Kizumi as he remembered her approx. 2… 2-3 years ago?

"How’s she doing, nowadays? I haven’t actually seen her in a while- I-I mean, of course I haven’t, she’s a busy Raikage now, but… would be fun to meet her again. She has really good sword etiquette.”

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Yoton: Nechi Bunshin no Jutsu [Lava Release: Tar Clone Technique]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Yōton
HANDSEALS: 3 - Boar, Ox, Horse
DESCRIPTION:
Similar to mud based techniques the user concentrates their chakra into the ground while forming the 'boar,' 'ox,' and 'horse' signs. They then pull tar into a copy of themselves. Because of the density of this clone, it can take a couple of glancing or direct blows before being destroyed. Though the clone can do no damage with purely physical attacks.

If an opponent strikes the clone with their body or a weapon will become mired into the clone, causing much difficulty to escape. The clone can also wrap themselves around the opponent for maximum trapping ability. It has the ability to be used as a base and point of contact for any yoton techniques the user has within their arsenal. Along with being sticky, it is also highly flammable.



NAME: Yōton: Gomu Rō [Lava Release: Rubber Wax]
RANK: E
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Yōton
HANDSEALS: 1 - Snake
DESCRIPTION:
The user manifests a hand-sized glob of molten rubber, which quickly hardens in the air. Still malleable enough to form with one's hands, the bearer can draw out their inner artist and model the rubber glob into whatever human being they know. This is especially easy for the user, who can model any person they've seen before immediately, but others in possession of the glob can try giving it form with their bare hands too.

[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

The young man immediately shifted gears at the mention of Kizumi and a pang of aggrivation immediately hit Yakitsukeru. Who was he to be so happy to hear about the Raikage when she wasn't even currently in a position that would let her regularly meet with her current protoge? That was her resource of power, and if it was not for the child-like nature of the reaction she may have sent the meteor hammer flying at the kusa genin. "She isss well, currently running me ragged with requessstsss, but the training I am recieving isss more then worth the cossst of it all," Yaki would state leaving any of the details out... was Kizumi's chest slightly larger on the wax doll? So he was a pervert on top of being commonly dumber then he should be. Looking down at her self, her head tilting in the scarf she would squint before looking back to Kojirou with a glare as if she had suddenly decided to be angry with the young man rather then anything else. From an outlook it seemed as if she had stared towards her legs before raising a glare to strike the boy with the emotional weight of her malice. A final sentiment shared in her cold red eyes as the attempted murder, "I will be blunt before we reach the shore Hono-Kun, I would never perform that wax creation if you wish to sssee Kizumi. It isss incredibly disssgusssting." TAGGED | Here NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

AI ♥

[Honō Kojirou]

They were like sibling students now… fizzy. Kojirou didn’t see any problem in it, not even the important fact and detail that Kizumi-sama last trained him back in the Land of Fields like 2-3 years ago, so… obviously, a lot had changed since then. She was the Raikage now- but Kojirou’s brain hadn’t focused on that quite yet, you see! It focused on relations! And there was a stark relation tying him and Yaki together as sibling students! That meant they were pretty much best frie-

Why was she suddenly looking at him like that?! Kojirou physically got pushed a step back by the sudden glare of ill intent, baffled by the change in atmosphere brought forth by a mere exchange of glances. Did he say something wrong about Kizumi-sama? Did he, somehow, insult Kizumi-sama in any way?! He didn’t know what his past sensei had been up to! He did plan to go find her again in the Hidden Cloud Village, but since she was the Raikage now, she was probably too bus- ohhhhh, that was what Yaki meant… b-but still, okay, sure, maybe he wasn’t in a position to just up and meet with her now…

But it wasn’t worth getting angry over!!!

The poor soul was then revealed to about the serpentine tongue’s opinion on his rubber figurines, and safe to say, a piece of Kojirou’s soul fled his vessel with greyish saturations coating his skin. "A…. A-Aaaaaaaaaaaa…”