[yamaguchi daichi]

I COULD EAT THE WORLD RAW

Expanded range of awareness; improved detail of awareness; identification of use of genjutsu; chakra fluctuations tied to emotion and stress and lies. Daichi was on the verge of mastering this elevated form of sensory, he could feel it—but all of his practice had been in a vacuum. Sitting on a street-side bench, over tea with Toru in his office, studying how genjutsu affected his chakra network in a safe, controlled environment. The outside world was not a safe, controlled environment. He needed to know this was a skill he could rely on when the chips were down and his back was against the wall and his chakra reserves were down to nothing. It was a situation he had been in far too often for his liking, and he knew how critical precise information could be in a crisis. Who better to go to than Minami Sora? She’d already proven that she was willing to push him beyond what he thought his limits were; it was thanks to her that he’d even embarked on this path to begin with. He felt selfish, asking for her time like this—she had a genin team to lead, and a busy life outside of that. But this wasn’t something he could do on his own. It was quietly thrilling to be able to find her home not through checking her file or asking the jounin hancho, but simply by focusing deep and opening his mind’s eye: zeroing in on her location within Kirigakure, on the edge of the main residential zone, just outside of the entertainment district. It felt strange, almost voyeuristic, but the high of newfound skill tamped down his personal misgivings, at least for now. He’d written to her ahead of time, of course; he didn’t want to make any last-minute impositions on her time. Hoshi was at his heels, Mushi wandering farther abroad, as he approached the large, comfortable-looking house and knocked politely on Sora’s front door. "Minami-sensei, good morning,” he called. He was buzzing with energy; snappy, quick, overstimulated with the sheer amount of information pouring into his mind. "It’s Daichi. I brought the dogs.”

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[Sora Minami]

Sora took in a deep, slow breath, centering her mind as she tied Samidare to her hip, edge side up. She was dressed like a proper Shinobi today; no qipao or cheongsam, no yukata or kimono. No, today she wore the uniform of a Mist Shinobi, a dark-blue long-sleeved shirt with matching pants, over which she layered her flak jacket and headband, today worn tight against her forehead rather than around her neck, her hair done up in a full ponytail that left no bangs hanging on the sides of her face or near her eyes.

So it was that, when Daichi knocked on the door to her house, the pink-haired Jounin was ready, opening the door not ten seconds after he lowered his hand, her sky-blue gaze calm and focused as she looked down at the boy. The last time she had squared off against the Mizukage’s bodyguard, he’d come out of it with a newfound sense of his own limits… and several broken bones to boot. She hadn’t reveled in pushing the Yamaguchi, but he’d needed it- so when he had written to her, asking that she do it again, she hadn’t hesitated.

"Daichi." She replied, nodding to him as she stepped out of her house, gaze flicking between her and the dog (Hoshi, if she remembered right), left hand settled on Samdare’s hilt, ready. "You sure you want to bring them along again?" Hoshi hadn’t exactly been of much help last time, though that was to be expected, even with her size. A dog, even a well-bred one, was still just a dog. It was his choice though. And theirs, to a degree.

yamaguchi daichi

[yamaguchi daichi]

I COULD EAT THE WORLD RAW

Sora looked like a consummate professional, in stark contrast to her usual garb. For an uncomfortable moment Daichi felt that she looked alarmingly like his mother, but they bore no similarities aside from the uniform and Sora was a good ten years younger than Yamaguchi Katsuko. He firmly pushed that thought aside. At Sora’s question, he glanced down at Hoshi. Mushi was occupying herself with fervent rat-catching, as was her wont, but Hoshi stayed glued to his side, looking up at both him and Sora with big, baleful eyes. He tilted his head, the question unspoken; as if in response, Hoshi’s tail thumped once against the side of Daichi’s leg. All was forgiven, and she would not be leaving his side. "She’s fine,” Daichi said. "Mushi will keep herself busy, and Hoshi likes you.” It would’ve been immediately obvious if she didn’t. "She’ll just keep her distance this time.” It had taken far longer for her to recover from her concussion than it had for Daichi to recover from his broken bones; most med-nin were not, in fact, experienced veterinarians. He didn’t want to risk her getting injured for no good reason again. He stretched his arms, rolling his shoulders and testing the flexibility of his now twice-shattered arm as he followed along at Sora’s side, Hoshi close at her heels. "It’s kind of crazy,” he said, glancing up at her. "Like, I can sense the gate guard on the opposite side of the village. There’s a genin team chasing after a big bear fifteen kilometers south. It’s just—so much information, and I can handle it when I’m not doing anything else, but I need to be able to multitask. Even just talking to you right now is hard, way harder than it would be with normal sensory.” He knew he was rambling more than usual; bouncing on the balls of his feet, energy shedding off him in waves.

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[Sora Minami]

"If you insist." Sora replied, her shoulders shrugging as the boy relayed Hoshi’s response. She had never understood why Shinobi brought familiars into battle with them, but at least Daichi knew better than to put them in harm’s way this time. Not that she particularly enjoyed hurting animals, but if the choice was between a shredded leg or arm or an injured pet… well. It wasn’t much of a choice, really, no matter how cute or wholesome the animal was. Motioning for the boy to follow her, the Jounin watched him rotate his shoulder, flexing the (now twice-shattered) arm as they walked, his words coming out with the kind of nervous energy one might expect of a fresh Genin.

"That sounds like a lot." She said, glancing back at Daichi as they walked; when he had sent her his note, asking for help training his Sensory skills, she hadn’t expected it to be quite so intense as what he was describing. That much information being poured into one’s head was a recipe for disaster if you couldn’t handle it, as the sheer volume would overwhelm the senses and make every action slower. Combine that with his inexperience with proper combat.. Yikes.

"I’ll have to be a bit more careful this time, then." Sora said, one hand resting atop Samidare’s hilt as she thought over what she would need to do. Their session had been about pushing his body to its physical limit, about tearing down his idea of what he could take and forcing him to reach deeper for the endurance he would need to survive. But this… this was a different animal entirely. Daichi needed time to process everything his new ability was telling him, time that he simply wouldn’t have in the middle of a fight.

That’ll be what we focus on, then. The Jounin thought as she turned towards the boy, stopping in the middle of the street, her face placid and calm despite the storm that roiled beneath the surface, bound tight yet screaming to be unleashed. "Alright. This is a good place to start."

yamaguchi daichi

[yamaguchi daichi]

I COULD EAT THE WORLD RAW

Hoshi wasn’t really built or trained for intense combat—it was rare that Daichi took either of the dogs along with him out into the field, unless he needed one or the other for a very specific kind of task. They stayed at home for the most part, and their designation as familiars was more of a way for him to justify taking more and more dogs in than anything else. He nodded vigorously. "It is,” he said. "Should be super helpful once I have a handle on it, though. Not just at range, either, it’s like—details, too. Normally you sacrifice depth of information for breadth of it when you’re practicing sensory, to different degrees depending on what kind you’re familiar with, but uh—the genin team, right.” Daichi paused for a moment, focusing on one of them, and then nodded again. "One of them just did a vertical leap to get in an attack on the bear from a higher viewpoint. ‘bout ten meters up, three throws, probably kunai if I had to guess, based on how they moved their wrist.” His emerald eye was bright, nearly feverish as he caught back up to Sora, not wanting to make her wait. "Twenty-five kilometers and I get detail.” Daichi wanted to protest at her estimation of needing to be careful—hadn’t he already proven that he could handle whatever she threw at him?—but he bit his tongue, offering up yet another nod instead. He had come to her for help, and that meant following her lead in whatever she thought was best. He skidded to a halt when she stopped, bouncing back in place to put some distance between them, and focused in on Sora herself; still passively aware of their surroundings, but all his attention was honed in on her, watching the tidal waves of her chakra network— Only, instead of the bubbling brook or placid lakes that he’d come to expect from most peoples’ chakra, he found a tempest raging just beneath the surface. It was like a hurricane trapped beneath a thin sheet of glass: leashed and restrained, for now. Daichi took a half-step back, primal instinct kicking in, his brow furrowing and his gaze lifting to examine Sora’s face, but she was calm as ever, her expression inscrutable. He thought suddenly of one of the dogs he’d taken in but hadn’t been able to keep: she was friendly and fine when left to her own devices, but the moment another dog came into her space, she became violent and angry. Hateful. Rabid. This was not something he was meant to see, Daichi knew that instantly. Maybe better if he not say anything, he didn’t want her to feel like her privacy was being invaded, but… "Are you sure?” he asked, tentative. "You’re… um, feeling okay?”

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[Sora Minami]

Daichi babbled in his usual way, displaying a level of earnestness and enthusiasm he had simply lacked in their previous clash. The circumstances clearly had something to do with that, to be sure, but Sora knew that cut both ways as well. He had been nervous and fearful before, but now he was excited, more than that, even- he was eager in a way he simply hadn’t been, even before she had chilled him to the bone with her false threat against Toru. Perhaps that lesson truly did do him some good after all, then.

The thought brought a soft, almost indiscernible smile to the Jounin’s face, her sky-blue gaze clear as she turned to the Yamaguchi boy… and paused, the look on his face far from what she would have expected given his earlier tone. There fear there, fear and a sense of embarrassment, as if he’d been caught peeking in some woman’s window, or looking up a skir-

Details. He had said it was more than just range, more than simply sensing chakra. He could sense other things, emotions, feelings, impressions- perhaps even thoughts, if he focused hard enough. The storm inside of her chest swelled for a moment, the roiling, seething rage that had burned in the depths of her heart since the day her parents died pressing against her will, trying to break free and rip Daichi apart. But for all the storm screamed for the boy’s head at peeking behind her mental curtain, for all it tried to rip free of her control… the Jounin didn’t move an inch, the only sign of the strain a soft tremble in her sword hand.

"I am fine, Daichi." She said after a moment, taking a long, slow breath that centered her thoughts, willing down the tempest of emotions until it settled back into its normal position; raging, boiling, but not in control, never in control. Not even for a second, not anymore. "In the future, I suggest you refrain from peeking behind the curtain without someone’s permission. People can get… testy."

And then, without another word, Sora gestured to the crowd, her gaze shifting away from Daichi as she laid a hand on Samidare’s hilt, voice as frosty and cold as the day she had first tested him, all those weeks ago… but now, with her anger under a tight, iron-fisted leash. "You wanted to give your sensory abilities a test, so this will suffice. We’re going to revisit what happened a few weeks ago… and this time, we’ll do it here."

yamaguchi daichi

[yamaguchi daichi]

I COULD EAT THE WORLD RAW

For all that Sora had beaten him within an inch of his life, Daichi had never been truly afraid during their last session. On an objective level he had known it was just training and that it was good experience, that no matter how much it had hurt in the moment, how stubborn and fierce and desperate he’d gotten, it wasn’t going to go any further than what a few days in the hospital couldn’t fix. There was no real threat on Toru’s life, so everything attached to it was just a really intense learning experience. Sora’s sword hand trembled, and Daichi suddenly knew exactly how thin that sheet of glass was, and he was afraid. His pride demanded that he explain it wasn’t that simple—it wasn’t like he had meant to pry into her personal business, but if he was focused on a singular person he was focused on them, and he couldn’t shut some information out without either shifting his focus or closing his Eye completely, not at his current level of control— —but the tiny ounce of self-preservation that still lived in his belly bade him to keep his mouth shut. He knew better than to offer an unwanted apology, so he only nodded once, his brow creased with the effort of reigning in the babble of nonsense threatening to escape through his teeth. They were stopped in the middle of a crowded street. Daichi thought he could see the shape of what the exercise might be, but Sora was full of surprises, apparently; he didn’t want to make too many assumptions. With a gentle pat on her back Daichi sent Hoshi off to go track down her sister, get her safely out of the line of fire. In this brief moment of preparation afforded to him, Daichi wove two hand seals and stretched a layer of chakra over his body—a whisper-thin barrier, effortless to maintain, that would hopefully help keep him out of the hospital for the fourth time in a year. He kept his Eye trained on Sora, passively aware of the streets surrounding them… but he tried, as much as he could, to focus on her movements and presence more than her chakra flow and intent. It was a struggle, his attention slipping as he tried to strike that balance, but if it could afford her any measure of privacy then it was worth the effort.

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[Sora Minami]

The moment Daichi nodded, embarrassment and fear etched on his face so clearly she could have sharpened her blade on it, Sora let loose a single breath, her shoulder visibly slumping by several inches as the air fled from her lungs. The boiling tempest in her chest stilled, somewhat, her breathing slowing as she glanced over the crowd, allowing her former student a scant few moments to collect himself while she contemplated how to tailor this lesson to fit into what the boy wanted to do. Practicing a technique in a controlled environment was one thing, but utilizing it in the field, when the stress was high and one mistake could mean your life? That was quite another.

"Your objective today will be much the same as the last time, with one caveat." The Jounin said after a moment, right hand resting atop Samidare’s hilt as she looked towards the Yamaguchi boy, her sky-blue gaze flat and calm, with no trace of the billowing tempest within. "I will have a ten second head start. You will have to find and ‘detain’ me to succeed. Understand?"

Sora didn’t wait for the Chuunin to reply before she moved- one moment, she was looking at him, relaxed and still as a winter pond, and the next she was gone, leaping up onto the roof of a nearby building before speeding off in a rapid burst motion, chakra surging through her legs. Five seconds of movement later and she returned to the ground, landing in a side alley with a roll, and formed a series of quick hand seals; one to form three shadow clones, each heading in a different direction, and then twelve more (three for each clone) to transform into a different person Daichi knew.

One clone, appearing as a younger Toru, went north, weaving through the crowd with a soft smile on its face; another headed west, taking to the rooftops as his sister Kyoko; the third went south, back towards Daichi, appearing as the boy’s mother. And as for the real Sora… she went east, towards the Mizukage’s tower, walking through the crowd with slow, deliberate steps, face a bland mask of freckles and wispy red hair, her body a foot shorter and fifty pounds lighter, making her seem a thin scrap of a girl. She wasn’t hiding, but neither was she making herself known either, which would make finding her by sight all the more difficult.

Alright, Daichi. Let’s see how well your new senses are tuned.

yamaguchi daichi

[yamaguchi daichi]

A repeat of last time, but with the added difficulty of the chase—and Sora, fast as she was, had a head start. Daichi’s brows knitted together, but he nodded his assent. Not that his assent mattered, because she was gone before the word understood could escape his lips. One, two, three, four, five… He was feeling confident at first, tracking Sora’s signature with pinpoint accuracy as she dashed off through the sea of life that swam through the streets of Kirigakure. Abruptly, though, that signature split into four, all dashing off in different directions. One was coming right his way—but was it a clone, or the real Sora? ... six, seven, eight, nine, ten. He started walking to meet the signature approaching him, keeping his eyes and Eye peeled for any indication that would help him figure out which of the signatures was the Original version. Though he sense Sora coming closer, he didn’t see her anywhere, no tell-tale head of pink hair in sight, though oddly enough his mother was approach— —surely not? Daichi did a double-take, frowning, then quickly lashed out with a swift punch to dissipate what he was now absolutely certain was a clone. Sora wouldn’t disguise herself as his mother and then come right back at him; it wasn’t her style. He flash-stepped up to the rooftops in search of the next closest signature, but as he reached a decent vantage point he stopped and reconsidered his strategy. His initial instinct was to track down each of the signatures and dis-corporate them all until only the real Sora remained; but that would take far too long for the purposes of the exercise, right? His second thought was that there was some calculation involved. The shadow clone technique wasn’t one that Daichi had mastered yet, but he knew that some chakra needed to be expended before the remaining chakra reserves were split with the clone. A little division meant that each clone would have less chakra than the one preceding it—the extras would have less than half of Sora’s full reserves, even less if they used any techniques at all, making them easier to differentiate if he scrutinized the signature beyond just recognizing it as Sora on a cursory level. But it was as he finished doing this math and mentally inspecting each of the signatures within range, his head pounding with the effort, that he realized that the simplest answer was staring him in the face. His objective was the same as the last time. Sora was going to the Mizukage’s tower. He took off after her, activating the vitality detection of his jaakugan as he ran across the rooftops to try to make visually picking her out in the crowd easier on his senses. He’d wasted so much time already, he might already be too late…

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[Sora Minami]

The moment Sora’s clone dissipated beneath Daichi’s fist, the Jounin knew what she needed to do. His senses seemed to be quite well tuned already, and she was certain he would figure out her plan. So, without a word, all three of her immediately shifted directions. The clone she had sent North leapt up onto the rooftops, making a beeline for the Mizukage’s tower; the one she had west pivoted towards Daichi’s last known location, moving slowly but focusing its mind on thoughts of violence and death, allowing its emotions to roil and batter against the cage she had built around them. And as for the real her…

Well, she kept moving, meandering off course by taking a side alley, flowing with the foot traffic and even lingering at a few stalls, looking for all the world like just another civilian out shopping. It would be up to Daichi to distinguish which of her signatures was the real her- and, if he was careful, actually stop her before she could arrive at her ultimate destination. As it sat, the boy was doing well, but she still had a few tricks up her sleeve… nevermind what she could do if she decided to actually fight.

But that would only come out as a last resort- a final test to see if he was truly ready, and only if she thought he would survive it. For now, what she was doing would suffice. For now.

yamaguchi daichi

[yamaguchi daichi]

Abruptly, all three of the Sora signatures that Daichi could sense changed direction. The one that had been heading for the Kage Tower suddenly pivoted away, going towards… the market, it seemed like? A different one starting going towards the Kage tower via rooftop instead of the street level, and the last was now coming straight for him. As he focused on the final signature, however, he felt suddenly overwhelmed with such a violent intensity of emotion that he had to fight the compulsion to close his Eye. He had promised Sora her privacy and was struggling to shut off such intimate knowledge of her inner feelings while also keeping track of her signature, but to close his Eye now would defeat the purpose of the exercise. The anger, hatred, grief, despair that this version of Sora seemed to be sinking into was so potent that Daichi felt his own frustration begin to mount, her emotions bleeding freely into his own. He took a few deep breaths, trying to center himself and stay focused on the task at hand. Following his own logic, Sora would be making her way to the Kage tower—which meant he had to follow the signature going that way. He was still on the rooftops, so he changed course and started following that one instead, employing the Step Method he had recently mastered to pick up the pace, try to keep away from the malignant force pursuing him, and catch up with his target. Once she was in sight, he wouldn’t hesitate—he knew he didn’t have any time to waste, and the frantic urgency mounting within him was bidding him to act. He wove two handseals, gathering up katon chakra, then flung three firey shuriken at the Sora on the rooftops that he was chasing, absolutely certain now that he had tracked down the real one.

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SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Subakage-ryū: Hohō [New Shadow Style: Step Method]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Taijutsu
ELEMENT: N/A
HANDSEALS: N/A
DESCRIPTION: The Step Method is the basis of all the Murahira's Subakage-ryū movement techniques. A human can walk, run, jump, and any other number of motions, but to truly achieve high speed they must learn to move properly. The Step Method is the isolation of technique, the removal of excess, and the refinement of action. It allows the user to move at speeds that exceed that which a shinobi would normally achieve, thereby improving the likelihood they will be able to run down a target or escape a blast radius.

It is not without its costs, though. The Step Method may be an idealized method of movement, but it is not the way a human will naturally try to move. It requires mental focus and extra physical exertion, though this basic form is less taxing than others.

NAME: Katon: Faia Tama no Jutsu [Fire Release: Fire Projectiles]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Katon
HANDSEALS: 2
DESCRIPTION: Activated by two handseals [ Horse then Tiger]. A skill where the user gathering their fire chakra they imbue it into their projectiles. Releasing them from their hands, spiraling about they catch flame in order to add to the damage of those projectiles. This technique can be utilized with Shuriken, Kunai, and Senbon.

[Sora Minami]

Daichi was quick on the uptake, but not fast enough; in the time it had taken the boy to recover his senses and center himself back into a proper frame of mind, the clone-Sora that had been headed his way found him. The young Chuunin moved fast, utilizing a jutsu to enhance his speed… but for all that it made him quicker, it wasn’t enough. Her clone moved with him, Fuuton chakra pulsing through her feet as she followed after him with the Wind Walk technique, which launched her over the rooftops at a much higher rate of speed. It wasn’t quite enough for her to interrupt his Katon jutsu, but it was enough for the clone (appearing as his sister Kyoko) to get in close and swing at the boy, left arm coming back in a powerful haymaker that, if it hit, would likely knock him flat on his ass… if not worse.

As for the clone Daichi had attacked, it noticed the boy coming but didn’t act right away; instead, it allowed the young Chuunin to launch his attack, chakra pulsing through its right arm, flowing out through its index and middle finger in order to use the Tōken Yubi jutsu, a pulsing blade of pure chakra forming around her digits, six inches in length. The clone slashed at the coming projectiles, Toru’s face a mask of concentration as it used the summoned weapon to reflect the flaming projectiles back at the Yamaguchi before whirling back towards the Kage Tower, hoping to draw him in even further.

And all the while, the real Sora kept moving, slowly meandering through side streets and crowds, never quite headed directly towards her goal but drawing nearer all the same. If Daichi wanted to succeed, he would have to do more than just endure this time; he would need to use every trick in his arsenal, plus his enhanced senses, to get the job done. Because even though she wasn’t going full force with her attacks, she was far more experienced than him… and she had been on stealth missions before.

yamaguchi daichi

Jutsu/SA's/Equipment Used

SPOILER: Click to show

Jutsu:
NAME: Kazesanpo [Wind walk]
RANK: B
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Wind
DESCRIPTION:
The blade is only as deadly as its reach, so maneuvering around the battlefield is important to a swordsman, in order to get close to the target, or avoid attacks. By channeling wind chakra into their feet, the user is able to swiftly run, so quickly that to the naked eye it seems like a blur.

NAME: Tōken Yubi [Sword Fingers]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low (On use), Very Low (Continuous)
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Non Elemental
HANDSEALS: None
REQUIREMENT: Secondary Bukijutsu Specilization or better
DESCRIPTION: This is a simple technique that does not have any preparation time in the form of handselas and can be used quickly, allowing it to be used as a surprise technique to attack someone or combine with another technique. What the user does is put his index and middle finger together and coat them in chakra, which they form into a short blade like shape. With these 'blade fingers' or more commonly called 'sword fingers' they can attack like they have a short weapon in hand that due to the chakra coating has a strong cutting and piercing ability. Of course this will only work to varying degrees, if the opponent is wearing a strong armor or blocking with a weapon, the user might injure their fingers instead. To keep a stable blade form, the chakra coating can only be up to 15cm long. (6 inches)

The stronger point of this technique is that the user can use this 'sword' they create to act as their weapon, which enables them to use Bukijutsu that require a sword but no chakra usage. That bukijutsu's effectiveness is one tier lower and as such weaker and halved in range if above a C-Rank. This Jutsu is famous for being a popular way swordsmen gauge each other's strength, but also a way to humiliate someone who's weaker than oneself, by allowing the user to not need to draw their sword. Assassins also use this as s silent killing method sometimes.

NAME: Kagami Yaiba [Mirror Blade]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Bukijutsu
ELEMENT: -
HANDSEALS: 0
DESCRIPTION: Despite the name of this technique, it can be used with most weapons, although it’s difficulty mastering it means it requires a skilled user of such a weapon. Thus a swordsman would not automatically be able to perform this technique with a club. A relatively straightforward technique, it is nevertheless very effective against incoming shuriken. The user guards against an incoming shuriken with his or her weapon. However, rather than simply deflecting it, the user hits the shuriken from such an angle that it is sent back towards the enemy. Skilled users of this technique can even reflect kunai towards moving opponents by calculating their movement pattern (Chuunin+), or even reflect a shuriken while adding a curve to it (Special Jounin+). One use of this technique can send back up to three shuriken for a Genin, five for a Chuunin, eight for a Special Jounin and ten for Jounin and higher.

Special Abilities:
The Kunoichi That Goes On And On And On… [Endurance SA]
Perhaps part of her genetics or simply a random quirk of fate, Sora is unnaturally resilient, be it to physical pain or the toils of extended combat. While most Shinobi would collapse in exhaustion at having used all but the smallest sliver of their chakra reserves, she pushes on; while most Shinobi would wilt beneath the weight of sleepless night after sleepless night, she keeps going. This does not mean she does not feel pain/the strain of extended combat, but rather that her threshold for shutting down because of it is far higher than others. To give an example, if she were to be stabbed through her abdomen, she would still feel the pain of the injury, and it would hinder her ability to move/act, but it wouldn’t stop her, whereas a normal ninja might freeze up or shut down from the pain.

Bet You Didn’t See That Coming [Speed SA]
A byproduct of her enhanced endurance, Sora (despite what many would think) dislikes being injured- and with that dislike comes the intense desire to avoid getting hurt, a desire that has pushed her to hone her body until it could move faster than most others of her rank. In short, Sora is fast- very, very fast.

POWAH! UNLIMITED POWAH!! [Chakra Reserves SA]
After a lifetime of utilizing nearly every ounce of chakra in her body just to survive, Sora’s chakra reserves have expanded a considerable amount to compensate- while she’s no Jinchuuriki, her ability to toss out jutsu after jutsu and still have enough chakra to keep going is quite remarkable, a testament to just how much of the stuff she actually has.

I Am Not Left-Handed [Kenjutsu Mastery SA]
Sora is not merely a Kenjutsu specialist- she is a master when it comes to the art of the sword; after over two decades of training, her skills are unrivaled within Kirigakure, falling short only to the Seven Swordsman themselves… some of them, anyway. This mastery allows her a distinct advantage when fighting other Bukijutsu specialists of similar or lesser rank.

If You Try For Speed, You Do Not Achieve Speed [Bukijutsu Speed SA]
Beyond being a master of Kenjutsu, Sora has practiced for decades to become the faster swordswoman she can be. As such, her Kenjutsu techniques come out faster and move quicker than those performed by others of her rank.

Equipment: Samidare | Spring Rain Blade (Drawn)
SA’s
Unbreakable
Whatever metal and forging process was used in the creation of Samidare, it worked; Samidare is utterly unbreakable by most any means, capable of being engulfed in an S-Rank Jutsu and remaining unscathed. Though it is possible that the blade could potentially be broken by a sufficiently powerful attack (such as, say, a Bijuu-dama), this has never been tested, so it is not known if it would survive.

Sharper Than Your Average Blade
Due to its nature as an unbreakable blade, Samidare bears a cutting edge that is of particular note, which allows it to slice through even steel with little in the way of resistance, so long as the proper force is applied. Additionally, this edge never needs to be resharpened, as it never grows dull or rolls, thus making it perfect for frontline combat.

Light as Spring Rain
Perhaps a quirk of its forging (or perhaps an intentional feature), Samidare is considerably lighter than a blade its size and length ought to be; while this would normally result in a less effective weapon, Samidare loses none of its integrity or cutting power, as it is somehow able to leverage the same amount of force through less mass. This lightness allows the user to swing the weapon about with much greater speed for the same amount of physical exertion.

Chakra Conduction
Being Chakra Conductive, Samidare is capable of channeling all types of Chakra for use in Bukijustu, and, more particularly, it has a slight affinity for Raiton chakra thanks to Sora’s constant use of the blade for that purpose. This affinity does not do anything of real note, but it does feel as if the blade were more eager to drink in Raiton Chakra than other types.

[yamaguchi daichi]

The malignant force pursuing him was too fast, easily able to keep up with him even with his enhanced speed; he tried to twist out of the way of the oncoming haymaker, but his reaction was delayed, and he got clocked hard enough to fall on his ass. He felt one of his ribs crack with the weight of the hit and grimaced, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t muscle through. He’d endured much worse at Sora’s hands. On the ground he needed to roll out of the way; the Toru-clone had deflected his projectiles back at him, and he wrenched himself to the side to try to dodge out of their way. He escaped one, but two landed in his shoulder—thankfully the sleeveless one, so while the katon chakra singed his flesh, he wasn’t running the risk of setting his clothes on fire. From the ground he swept a leg in retaliation, feinting with a low kick to the clone’s legs before pulling one of the shuriken out of his shoulder, throwing it at the Kyoko-clone at the same time he pushed himself back to his feet. Without wasting any more time on the Kyoko-clone, he again used the Step Method to keep pursuing the Toru-clone, though his attention briefly wandered to the third signature that remained at large. With one running away from him and another chasing after him, what was the third one doing? Bait, to make him doubt himself? Or had he fallen for one of Sora’s tricks? He tried to block the Kyoko-clone’s miasma of feeling out of his mind and focus on the third, wayward signature. What was she doing? How was she feeling? If he could uncover that much, then maybe the mystery of this challenge could be laid bare to him.

Sora Minami -- 299

LAIKA OF THQ

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Subakage-ryū: Hohō [New Shadow Style: Step Method]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Taijutsu
ELEMENT: N/A
HANDSEALS: N/A
DESCRIPTION: The Step Method is the basis of all the Murahira's Subakage-ryū movement techniques. A human can walk, run, jump, and any other number of motions, but to truly achieve high speed they must learn to move properly. The Step Method is the isolation of technique, the removal of excess, and the refinement of action. It allows the user to move at speeds that exceed that which a shinobi would normally achieve, thereby improving the likelihood they will be able to run down a target or escape a blast radius.

It is not without its costs, though. The Step Method may be an idealized method of movement, but it is not the way a human will naturally try to move. It requires mental focus and extra physical exertion, though this basic form is less taxing than others.

[Sora Minami]

Daichi’s response to her clone’s attacks was, to put it bluntly, less than perfect. Taken by surprise by the Kyoko-clone, then further thrown off balance by the Toru-clone, the Yamaguchi boy was battered, cut, and burned by the bevy of strikes thrown his way- but for all she had injured him, he kept going, pushing himself through the pain to retaliate at the clone of his sister, feinting a leg sweep before pulling one of the shuriken in his shoulder out and tossing it at her face almost point blank. The ruse worked, a second clone going down in a puff of smoke, its death sending all the information it knew to the real Sora and her sole remaining clone, which once more altered her strategy.

The Toru-clone twisted in mid-run, utilizing Decelerate to stop on the front corner of a rooftop while pirouetting in its front foot to come face to face with Daichi and thrust the pulsating chakra blade straight at his chest. If the blow hit cleanly, the blade would bury all six inches into his right lung, likely collapsing it entirely, but that wasn’t the true danger of what the Toru-clone was doing. Even with his enhanced speed, the boy would have plenty of time to get out of the way of the blow, but doing so would open him up to a potential counter- particularly if he didn’t (or couldn’t) bring himself to strike the image of his beloved Kage.Because she knew exactly how the young Yamaguichi heir felt about Toru, and if he thought their enemies wouldn’t use that affection against him… well. He was sorely mistaken.

And all the while, the real her moved steadily closer to the Kage’s tower, no longer trying to avoid a direct path, her disguised form walking briskly through the streets, whistling as she moved, acting as if there wasn’t a care in the world.

yamaguchi daichi

Jutsu/SA's/Equipment Used

SPOILER: Click to show

Jutsu:
NAME: Gensoku Suru [Decelerate]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Taijutsu
ELEMENT: -
HANDSEALS: 0
DESCRIPTION: The opposite to accelerate, decelerate effectively allows the user to instantly disperse all their momentum and stop on a dime as it were. This technique however can only be used for movement and the user must be touching the ground. This can not stop the user from taking damage from a fall nor can it stop their movement when being hit from an attack.

Special Abilities:
The Kunoichi That Goes On And On And On… [Endurance SA]
Perhaps part of her genetics or simply a random quirk of fate, Sora is unnaturally resilient, be it to physical pain or the toils of extended combat. While most Shinobi would collapse in exhaustion at having used all but the smallest sliver of their chakra reserves, she pushes on; while most Shinobi would wilt beneath the weight of sleepless night after sleepless night, she keeps going. This does not mean she does not feel pain/the strain of extended combat, but rather that her threshold for shutting down because of it is far higher than others. To give an example, if she were to be stabbed through her abdomen, she would still feel the pain of the injury, and it would hinder her ability to move/act, but it wouldn’t stop her, whereas a normal ninja might freeze up or shut down from the pain.

Bet You Didn’t See That Coming [Speed SA]
A byproduct of her enhanced endurance, Sora (despite what many would think) dislikes being injured- and with that dislike comes the intense desire to avoid getting hurt, a desire that has pushed her to hone her body until it could move faster than most others of her rank. In short, Sora is fast- very, very fast.

POWAH! UNLIMITED POWAH!! [Chakra Reserves SA]
After a lifetime of utilizing nearly every ounce of chakra in her body just to survive, Sora’s chakra reserves have expanded a considerable amount to compensate- while she’s no Jinchuuriki, her ability to toss out jutsu after jutsu and still have enough chakra to keep going is quite remarkable, a testament to just how much of the stuff she actually has.

I Am Not Left-Handed [Kenjutsu Mastery SA]
Sora is not merely a Kenjutsu specialist- she is a master when it comes to the art of the sword; after over two decades of training, her skills are unrivaled within Kirigakure, falling short only to the Seven Swordsman themselves… some of them, anyway. This mastery allows her a distinct advantage when fighting other Bukijutsu specialists of similar or lesser rank.

If You Try For Speed, You Do Not Achieve Speed [Bukijutsu Speed SA]
Beyond being a master of Kenjutsu, Sora has practiced for decades to become the faster swordswoman she can be. As such, her Kenjutsu techniques come out faster and move quicker than those performed by others of her rank.

Equipment: Samidare | Spring Rain Blade (Drawn)
SA’s
Unbreakable
Whatever metal and forging process was used in the creation of Samidare, it worked; Samidare is utterly unbreakable by most any means, capable of being engulfed in an S-Rank Jutsu and remaining unscathed. Though it is possible that the blade could potentially be broken by a sufficiently powerful attack (such as, say, a Bijuu-dama), this has never been tested, so it is not known if it would survive.

Sharper Than Your Average Blade
Due to its nature as an unbreakable blade, Samidare bears a cutting edge that is of particular note, which allows it to slice through even steel with little in the way of resistance, so long as the proper force is applied. Additionally, this edge never needs to be resharpened, as it never grows dull or rolls, thus making it perfect for frontline combat.

Light as Spring Rain
Perhaps a quirk of its forging (or perhaps an intentional feature), Samidare is considerably lighter than a blade its size and length ought to be; while this would normally result in a less effective weapon, Samidare loses none of its integrity or cutting power, as it is somehow able to leverage the same amount of force through less mass. This lightness allows the user to swing the weapon about with much greater speed for the same amount of physical exertion.

Chakra Conduction
Being Chakra Conductive, Samidare is capable of channeling all types of Chakra for use in Bukijustu, and, more particularly, it has a slight affinity for Raiton chakra thanks to Sora’s constant use of the blade for that purpose. This affinity does not do anything of real note, but it does feel as if the blade were more eager to drink in Raiton Chakra than other types.

[yamaguchi daichi]

The shuriken he flung back at the Kyoko-clone found purchase and she discorporated with a poof of smoke. Just two left, then: the Toru-clone and the final wayward signature, the one he hadn’t seen transform. Something about that one settled wrong in the back of his mind, like there was a puzzle that he’d failed to solve, but he felt equally certain that he’d correctly surmised Sora’s gambit: the true Sora had to have been heading towards the Kage tower, right? That had to mean that Sora herself—the real one—had disguised herself as Toru, was the one Daichi was chasing after now. But then, he thought, what was that last signature doing? They had all changed directions once before, which was why he’d started pursuing Toru in the first place… His skull pounding with the beginnings of a headache and his focus split between the Toru in front of him and the signature away from him, he wasn’t quite able to work through the puzzle fast enough before another obstacle was thrown in his path. After the Kyoko-clone poofed, he’d turned on the ball of his foot and pushed himself to his feet, once again resuming the chase after Toru towards the Kage tower at top Step Method speed. But the Toru-clone stopped abruptly, turning on a dime to thrust what looked like another use of that chakra-blade technique in his direction—his palm throbbed with pain-memory, his nerves intimately acquainted with what it felt like to be on the receiving end of Sora's blade. He pivoted in place, moving too quickly and with too much momentum to be able to stop entirely, and jerked his body to the left to get out of the technique’s pathway. His reflexes were too slow, still. The blade sliced deep through the meat of his bicep—not nearly the damage he’d have sustained if it struck true, but badly enough for blood to weep openly down the length of his arm, a chunk of flesh cut as though he were little more than a carcass on a butcher’s block. Closing in, he might have had the opportunity to pull another kunai, attempt to slide it between his target’s ribs; could have woven handseals for a paralysis seal or prepared a crowd-control barrier to detain them, as he’d been instructed. But it was Toru. It wasn’t, he knew that. Stark white hair, crimson eyes, the angle of his jaw, the curve of his throat, they were all there; but his expression wasn’t quite right. His stance looked wrong, because he had seen Toru fight and train a thousand times, and Daichi knew the way he was supposed to move as intimately as he understood his own skillset. The chakra signature was unmistakably Sora’s, so clear and distinct that he would have known her blind. But it was Toru. So he hesitated, and that hesitation would prove his undoing.

Sora Minami -- 493

LAIKA OF THQ

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Subakage-ryū: Hohō [New Shadow Style: Step Method]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Taijutsu
ELEMENT: N/A
HANDSEALS: N/A
DESCRIPTION: The Step Method is the basis of all the Murahira's Subakage-ryū movement techniques. A human can walk, run, jump, and any other number of motions, but to truly achieve high speed they must learn to move properly. The Step Method is the isolation of technique, the removal of excess, and the refinement of action. It allows the user to move at speeds that exceed that which a shinobi would normally achieve, thereby improving the likelihood they will be able to run down a target or escape a blast radius.

It is not without its costs, though. The Step Method may be an idealized method of movement, but it is not the way a human will naturally try to move. It requires mental focus and extra physical exertion, though this basic form is less taxing than others.