[Gurē Ren]

   the things we know...

-  -  -  A S  A B O V E,  S O  B E L O W  -  -  -

---

*Ugh, more Konoha shinobi...* Ren thought while gazing into the depths of the labyrinth in front of him. It was an incredibly high structure of rocks that looked rather unsafe to climb so, the only way was through. The team he was on was assigned to find a path through, if any, and this time Ren was grouped with not one but two Konoha shinobi. His first assignment had turned out just fine with the white-haired medic from Konoha. While dramatic, she was, at least, somewhat competent. Taking his responsibility as medic first and foremost, Ren was not the one to throw a punch to anyone from the hidden leaf. Honestly, he couldn’t care less about their personalities or beliefs - he was there to do a job.

”I’m Gurē Ren.” the green-eyed blonde would speak up shortly. ”Any idea on a plan?” Once the three had assembled it was best to waste no time and find out how their brains worked. Ren himself had a couple ideas but it would be better to know if they had any trackers or sensors on the team. He was completely unaware of their abilities.

The Kiri medic stood at 6 feet tall, had a messy head of blond locks covering most of his forehead protector and donned a standard Kiri chuunin uniform with a black turtleneck underneath and a navy chuunin jacket. By the location of his pouches, he was right-handed.

---

TAG : Yamanaka Tomomi Nara Shikajin || WORDS : 240 || NOTES : ---

simple thread template no jutsu by odango

[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

The apocalyptic scene before Tomomi lit up their chakra sensing abilities like the most blinding beam of light, strange alien chakra threatening to suffocate out anything else. It took more effort than usual to part that veil and reach forward, try to lay a map of the terrain.

Everything about this situation displeased Tomomi. For the glory of Konoha, she reminded herself - for the glory of Konoha, she would accept working alongside a shinobi of Kirigakure instead of one of her much more competent team members. Things were chaos on the ground here, so it was inevitable that team arrangements wouldn't be ideal, that coordinators would be scrounging to fill every mission and task with whatever manpower they could get, no matter how subpar. At least Nara Shikajin was here so that she didn't have to deal with this trouble alone.

"I should be able to sense reasonable paths forward," Tomomi answered, all business, not even sharing her usual polite smile. "The chakra leeching into the air is limiting my range, though. We'll probably have to try multiple routes. If we can get deep enough, we can try to use smoke to identify paths of airflow to look for exits."

Using the wooden puppet coiled on her back, Tomomi unfurled the tool's segmented wooden arms, using them to pick up another scroll. "If need be, I can scout narrow passages with my puppets."

---

Gurē Ren Nara Shikajin

[Nara Shikajin]

♛

This wasn't ideal but the life of a medic often wasn't. Plans and rest oft went awry just as soon as you thought one was within reach and it was up to them to adapt and overcome. Calls for aid had come out so quick and the need for information so intense that all those able --not necessarily willing-- were called to the effort. It was the only explanation for this less than amicable team up between nations that actively despised one another and as tough as the prospect was that difference would have to be set aside for the time being. Sizable cracks in the very earth had appeared leaving dozens of trails that needed to be explored and routes charted so that a deeper push into the lands could be made, and it was up to these three to make that initial journey.

The Nara felt that he could protect himself well enough should the very thinkable happen but was appreciative to have a fellow village mate by his side none the less. Very little about either of the Kiri-nin's names rung a bell but they were at least willing to give things a go in terms of working together. Shikajin's talents were not in exploration, sensing, anything of the sort, but he'd provide support where he could.

"I'd rather avoid bringing out Mukeisou if possible, but he is a very capable tracker and would probably do well getting through some of these paths." The chunin spoke. That deer was so temperamental that taking the time to coax it into helping wasn't worth the effort more often than not, but his skills were noted and this may have been a situation that was worth it. Still, Shikajin would wait to see this was something they needed a fourth individual for before committing the chakra.

### | Gurē Ren Yamanaka Tomomi | notes

ulla

[Gurē Ren]

   the things we know...

-  -  -  A S  A B O V E,  S O  B E L O W  -  -  -

---

Maybe what people said about Konoha was true. Senseless, violent hicks from an old and watered down culture. Ren broke his stoic character to sigh and his shoulders dropped slightly. ”Where I come from, people introduce themselves...” he paused and added: ”but manners sometimes chase creatures too fast for them.” and that was that. His words could have been interpreted in a couple ways. It certainly sounded like it came from the heart even if Ren spoke in a cool and relaxed manner. There was no need to explain what he meant – hopefully, they could understand compound sentences. Since the two had given no names, Ren had no choice to give them ones. He would do so by appearance. With no names they would just call each other "Oi" or "You" and that could proved a hindrance in a tense situation. So - the notable thing about Tomomi was... *His hair stands out from the boring uniform, I guess. As for the gloomy one - he's pale and has a mask. The bags under his eyes suggest fatigue and his posture is a bit slacking. Is he sickly?*

”It sounds like you should take lead, Ponytail, and Anemic and I will cover for you for now. Worst case, I can assist medically. I’ll also block off the paths we do not need for future parties.” the blonde said while looking at the light-haired leaf shinobi and then turned to speak to the dark haired one: ”I suggest you save chakra until we might need your tracking ability. What else can you do?” was the pale, sickly looking one just good for mukei-something?

”After you.” he motioned towards the labyrinth to Ponytail and the other one. It was best to start moving, so, as soon as the group picked an entrance, Ren would channel lightning chakra in his hand and mark a large X on the wall next to the entrance. It had proven effective while rescuing people being stuck in mud and quicksand just hours before so he suspected that the zones were naturally resistant and vulnerable to corresponding elements. The technique itself was the same as the chakra transfer one so it didn’t take much effort for someone with honed chakra control.

As soon as Tomomi would decide on a path that was a dead end, Ren would form a single hand seal, and, instantly, a mushroom as big as a thick oak tree would grow out of the ground to block said useless path. It looked durable and would stay there unless someone intentionally cut it down or burned it down. The mushroom was naturally resistant to blunt trauma and did not seem to mind the environment.

This way they had a contingency to not run into paths they didn’t need and formed some landmarks as they went. Ren also went as far as to scribble a number on each mushroom as they advanced.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Gādian Kinoko [Guardian Mushroom]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: N/A
HANDSEALS: 1
DESCRIPTION:
One of the Gure clan’s defensive techniques, After doing a single hand seals, the Gure clan user instantly grows a fully matured King Bolet Mushroom, whose cap and stalk are naturally thick. This particular fungi is comparable in size to a large Oak tree. It instantly emerges from the ground once the hand seal is made, defending against incoming attacks or stopping advancing or pursuing Shinobi. The durability of this jutsu allows it to withstand blunt force and cutting damage, while being weak against piercing damage or the katon element.

TAG : Yamanaka Tomomi Nara Shikajin || WORDS : 486 || NOTES : ---

simple thread template no jutsu by odango

[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

This is exactly what Tomomi anticipated from a shinobi of Kirigakure. They should just be getting to work, but there simply had to be petty squabbles over what to be called. If they were working efficiently enough, none of them ever needed to call each other by name.

"You can call me Yokoyama," Tomomi corrected, with a smile and a calm condescension that implied that not only was this not Tomomi's real name, but that she thought he was an idiot for offering his. Just knowing he was a Gurē offered interesting information about his potential abilities and allegiances, at least based on the Gurē that Tomomi had personally interacted with in the past. Tomomi would never give out their clan name to the enemy to avoid even the smallest information leaking out to them.

With that settled, they stepped forward. Usually Tomomi preferred to remain at the back of a group given their specific skill set, but unfortunately here it made the most sense for them to lead the group. They inched into the caves, feeling out with their mind's eye to explore the passages with their chakra, gathering what information they could.

They passed a few deadened paths and the Gurē, sure enough, blocked them with a giant mushroom, helping to mark which paths were impassable. 

Eventually, Tomomi came to a crossroads and faced down the rightmost path.

"There's a chakra signature up ahead in this direction. The noise of the surrounding chakra makes it difficult to discern an exact shape or size, but I'd expect three or more combatants... to emerge from the stone as we progress that way."

---

Gurē Ren Nara Shikajin

[Nara Shikajin]

♛

Shikajin had been working on his bedside manner for the past few years out of a need of not wanting to come off as scary to his patients, relaxed patients were often a lot more receptive to treatment he had found, but this guy was throwing a tantrum like a child who didn't want to get their temperature taken; the chunin would have laughed had the current situation not been what it was. Listening to Tomomoi, no, Yokoyama give their name offered the Nara a chance to do the same but it was less a chance to be deceptive and not wanting to compound the trouble. Assuming the trio ran into trouble, which was likely, it would become very evident very quickly what family the dark haired shinobi hailed from, so there was less of a reason for him to lie.

It didn't mean he had to answer though.

Ren had no doubt used up a considerable amount of brain power to come up with those monikers and giving him something else to remember would probably send him into a stupor, and Shikajin needed him upright just long enough to be the good little meat shield that he was. "I can save your life." The Nara answered plainly before following suit behind the Yamanaka. He hadn't meant for it to be a riddle as those were surely too complex for the salt-spitters in that village but maybe, just maybe, there'd be a miracle.

As they continued down the various paths Tomomi would alert the group to a group of chakra signatures approaching them though due to the interference she was unable to ascertain just what they were. The rumbling of earth would soon answer their query and from within the cliff burst three mole like creatures, but instead of the normally cute creatures one would see terrorizing their garden these had grown to the size of man with spikes of hardened earth jutting from their bodies. Cute squeaks replaced with growls of pain and terror, still very much blind but their noted noses easily able to pinpoint the location of the three shinobi.

### | Gurē Ren Yamanaka Tomomi | notes

ulla

[Gurē Ren]

   the things we know...

-  -  -  A S  A B O V E,  S O  B E L O W  -  -  -

---

Quite frustrating, both of them. It looked like poking at the leaf shinobi didn’t let them see how stupid not naming themselves was. Ren didn’t know of many Konoha clans nor did he care. Hearing the words ‘Yamanaka’ or ‘Nara’ would mean absolutely nothing to the blonde. Contrary to what the citizens of the Country of Fire believed, the rest of the continent did not make it a mission to know more about them. Kirigakure probably had spies everywhere and had information about a lot but that was not Ren’s mission. His job at hand was to work with these idiots to navigate through a maze so that other teams could advance efficiently. It would be easier if he knew what the others could do but, of course, Anemic had to be difficult. And unnecessarily cryptic for that matter. Saving someone’s life could have meant any technique or level of skill. It wasn’t a riddle but a vague statement that must have made the man feel very clever. So what if people knew his name? They didn’t and couldn’t know the specifics of his abilities and, one day, Ren would become a world renown medical genius so it didn’t matter to him – let everyone know his name.

*Doesn’t matter, I guess.* Ren thought. If he had to be the only professional one on the team, he would be. That being said, the leafies had shown their capability of listening to reason as far as planning was concerned. Too much energy was spent on caring about the etiquette of people about ten years his seniors so, just like that, he let it go. Konoha shinobi were the kind to chase their tails and try to assassinate world leaders during Chuunin Exams. Not like his backhanded attempt to explain social norms would help so, instead, having encountered how annoying the first moments of the mission were, he sorted out his feelings and let it go. It felt lighter and delightfully numb. *I’ll still call him Ponytail...* maybe just a little petty was left...

The rumbling began and instinctively Ren stepped in front of the asset – in this case Ponytail – to prepare protecting them from whatever was coming. Three unorthodox moles appeared and Ren got a stronger feeling that he had at the entrance of the maze. It was like their chakra had been tempered with and, following the success at the entrance, he figured the most efficient way to beat them was in, hopefully, one strike and with an elemental upper hand.

”Raiton: Raijū Hashiri no Jutsu” he said after forming a single hand seal and extended his hand towards the moles. He hesitated to see if the animals would attack them first... they did charge at them towards his voice and, just as they did, a bright flash of electricity shot out of Ren’s open palm. It would be too quick to see if not paying attention but a wolf made of pure lightning and tied to a chain from Ren’s hand jumped in the midst of the creatures and, as soon as he touched the moles, the three assailants were blown back and knocked out. To an untrained eye it might have looked like a flash and then the moles flew back.

He cancelled the jutsu as soon as he saw contact between it and the animals and then turned to leave. They had a way to go still and he didn’t want to spend more chakra maintaining techniques for show.

The further they walked, he heard a noise nearby, coming from the other side of the wall. It sounded like countless tiny scratches. Reminded him of when they were playing around with sense enhancing jutsu creation and Ren could hear wildlife for half a day as if it was all amplified in his ear. ”Centipedes?” he thought out loud but would keep moving with Tomomi as lead. Surely, he would say if they had another thing coming.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Raijū Hashiri no Jutsu [Lightning Beast Running Technique]
RANK: B
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium [Continuous] / Exponentially increases beyond 35 meters from user.
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [General]
ELEMENT: Raiton
HANDSEALS: 1
DESCRIPTION:
After a single handseal Raiton chakra is sent to the user's hand. The user then makes lightning expand into the form of a hound or wolf, and remains connected to it by a chain of lighting. The user can make the beast go as far as thirty five meters before the user's direct control of it from such a distance starts to strain the user's chakra pool. This jutsu's deadliness stems from its unpredictability, though if the opponent is struck by the wolf, one will find their body rocked with a powerful charge of lightning, enough to throw a them off their feet and incapacitated.

TAG : Yamanaka Tomomi Nara Shikajin || WORDS : 658 || NOTES : 7/15

simple thread template no jutsu by odango

[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

As three great moles emerged from the ground, the Kirigakure shinobi she'd just sniped at moved instinctively to protect her. It made sense from a practical standpoint, since she was their guide through these dark caves, and besides anything else she was a back-line fighter, but a certain part of her pride flared about it anyways.

The cave filled with sparking, the Gurē summoning a flash of lightning, blinding quick, to attack the animals, sending them sprawling backwards. It was certainly a good thing to have someone capable of utilizing raiton in this area, though it made her nervous as well - she didn't want the structure of the cave to weaken and end up falling on them. She could manipulate doton to help in that instance, but it'd still be preferable not to have to in the first place.

As soon as the enemies were laid out, Ren ferried the party forward.

"I'm not sure about leaving those things behind," Tomomi sighed. "I hate the idea of encountering something else and then having those approach from the rear." He'd feel it if that was going to happen, and be able to alert the party, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be trouble.

She couldn't focus on such worries for long, though. A skittering sound began to approach, the direct almost dampened, unclear. Tomomi wasn't able to warn until the last second -

"By your leg," she warned Shikajin. A many-legged creature, carapace like stone, began to weave its way out of a crack in the cave floor. Tomomi forged three hand seals and created a barrier bullet, launching it at the uncannily large insect. It pierced the thing's side, but only managed to sink a few inches in, proving these things were sturdy. The centipede's bleeding body was shoved out of the way as several more scrambled up behind it.

---

Gurē Ren Nara Shikajin
Jutsu used:

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Kekkai: Dangan [Barrier: Bullet]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: -
HANDSEALS: 3
DESCRIPTION:

Compressing air into a very tiny barrier the size of a musket ball, the user fires it at great velocity towards the target, able to pass straight through a human body. However objects of higher density than it will certainly stop it, including certain thicknesses of wood, iron or steel.

[Nara Shikajin]

♛

It wouldn't take long for the group to act when the transformed moles began to close in, though it was the one who had been throwing a temper tantrum mere moments before who had been surprisingly quick to act and in a flash of lightning had dispatched the trio of creatures. Granted, they weren't dead and as Tomomi noted there was the possibility of them waking up and resuming their chase after the group but Shikajin felt that taking these animals out permanently may not have been the best solution just yet; they were more than likely victims of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and were surely more scared and confused than actually vicious.

As they continued to move through the earthen maze crossing out dead ends and the such an unmistakable scratching sound began to grow louder and louder, first from the wall next to them but then from the floor until a warning from the Yamanaka drew Shikajin's attention to a huge centipede springing out of the ground. Spinning on a heel before hopping back a few feet the man watched as an attack pierced the creature's oddly-tough carapace, able to fell the bug and as it dropped to the ground revealing several more charging towards them. Whatever the chakra had done to this area no doubt was responsible for the strange mutations in the normally mundane animals they had come across and it was becoming increasingly evident that simple weaponry wasn't going to be sufficient in granting them egress.

Dropping to a knee the Nara would hold a single seal as the very shadow beneath him would darken and spring to life, a thought extending it out towards the attackers and given their close proximity to one another and the many, many legs each creating their own shadow it didn't take much effort for the binding shadow to grab hold of them all. "They shouldn't be moving any longer, do what you must to get rid of them." He spoke to either of his two mission partners, it didn't matter to him who took care of the creatures but they needed to get a move on.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Kagemane no Jutsu [Shadow Imitation Technique]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: N/A
DESCRIPTION:
The basis of all the Nara Clan techniques. The use extends their shadow over any surface in an attempt to connect with an enemy's shadow. Once they touch, the shadow's merge, connecting the target with the user. The target is then forced to imitate the movements of the user. On its own, the range of this technique is approximately thirty yards. However, with each use the Kage Mane yields diminishing returns; this loss in length is approximately a yard per use.

### | Gurē Ren Yamanaka Tomomi | notes

ulla

[Gurē Ren]

   the things we know...

-  -  -  A S  A B O V E,  S O  B E L O W  -  -  -

---

Just as Ren had thought – centipedes. It happened quickly that the three would be assaulted by the critters. Ren thought her might have to save his anaemic colleague but Ponytail acted first. It was quite a sight to behold, an entire current of centipedes the height of big dogs and longer than all of them was rushing to overpower the shinobi. Ren couldn’t help but find it kind of gross.

The bullet jutsu fired by Tomomi dented one but, as a surprise, Anaemic formed a single hand sign and all of them stopped. Ren removed his hand from his projectile holster and took a second to look at the situation at hand. It was true, all of the critters in sight stopped moving. Even the two new arrivals would freeze as soon as they got in range of the dark-haired masked man.

*How?* Ren walked closer and took a better look. *What’s the black stuff under them?* he wasn’t familiar with the Nara hijutsu but mulling over it could be done as they moved.

”Now here’s an idea.” Ren’s right hand would start gathering chakra and, specifically, raiton chakra. It wouldn’t be able to zap anything and would be a regular chakra scalpel technique with the chakra nature merely having an advantage against the chakra in the air. ”Moles eat arthropods.” Having said that, Ren stepped over one of the centipedes and thrust his chakra covered arm like a spear between the second and third segment of its body before sharply yanking it to the side. The close proximity and the chakra advantage severed the head and sent blood to the side. Arthropods had what’s called an open blood system where blood fills the entire body cavity so they would leak. The medic repeated this with all of them with no hesitation and, within a minute or two, all of the bugs lay lifeless on the path.

”If the moles follow this path, they’ll be stopped by food and will probably leave.” If not, there was some sort of organised crime in the mole circles here and that was highly doubtful. Most animals were pretty easy. Feed them and they retreat somewhere to sleep.

Ren would wait to see if Ponytail still wanted to double back or they could move on. He released the chakra scalpel jutsu and shook the bug blood off his arm. It was gross... just like he thought. Some of the bug blood had splashed on the rest of his body, including a drop on his cheek that he wiped away with a sleeve.

---

TAG : Yamanaka Tomomi Nara Shikajin || WORDS : 428 || NOTES : 10/15

simple thread template no jutsu by odango

[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

Shikajin acted quickly, restraining the insects and preventing them from moving any further. This created an opening for Ren to approach with what looked like a raiton-enhanced version of the scalpel technique, making quick work of the restrained insects. Luckily it seemed that as a group, they had the skills needed to avoid being swarmed by a group of enemies like this. Tomomi hadn't even needed to summon any of her puppets so far.

"Just leaving the insects as bait should be fine," Tomomi settled on. She was still mildly discontented with it - they had no certainty that the animals were necessarily rational actors given the circumstances - but it was also a waste of time and chakra for them to linger around and debate about it, so continuing to move forward seemed like the best option for now.

So Tomomi continued their trek forward, inching through the dark and narrow passages to follow the airflow as well as the pathways they could feel out with their sensory.

Eventually they reached another area of risk.

"The rock here seems weak," Tomomi sighed, kneeling down. They formed a hand seal, then planted their hands against the earth. A large, stone puppet began to grow from the ground. It reached its hands up to support the ceiling, essentially acting as a pillar for the cave's structure to prevent any collapses.

"I think we're getting close to the exit. I can feel an open space ahead."

---

Gurē Ren Nara Shikajin
Jutsu used:

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Ten'nō no Ryōiki [Emperor's Territory]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium [Initial], Very Low [Constant]
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [Puppetry]
ELEMENT: Doton
HANDSEALS: 1
REQUIREMENTS: Kugutsu no Jutsu, Stone Puppet
DESCRIPTION:

Combining the universal building block of puppetry and a constant nature of Doton crudely, has created the basis for a style of puppetry. Infusing the earth in an area with a doton chakra composition and integrating with it weakly across an area instead of attaching strings to puppets that are made of the same stone, the user can animate stone puppets to life-like motion as long as the puppet stays planted at least partially to the ground within the range of their technique. This allows them some unconventional, if rudementary control of the puppets. The user can affect the puppets with Puppetry techniques as normal.

Like Kugutsu no Jutsu there is a delay between the puppeteers orders and the puppets movements, though this is much slower for the Ten'nō no Ryōiki meaning puppet movement will not be instantaneous, and the response time increases based on distance. The range is also nowhere as expansive as those of similar rank situating at no more than a third the usual distance a puppeteer can be from their puppets.

[Nara Shikajin]

♛

While the enemies before them weren't particularly strong their numbers and struggle could be felt through the shadow linking Shikajin to them and while his tone may not have let onto how quickly the group needed to deal with them he was a bit surprised that these creatures had such willpower. Perhaps it was the foreign chakra running through their system, throughout this entire area even, that was giving them a boost but needless to say the Nara was putting forth more effort than he would have normally. Thankfully the shock and awe of his clans techniques did not leave the Gure in a stupor as they moved quickly to deliver final blows to the centipedes using a technique that --while not known specifically to the man-- did look to share some properties with the chakra scalpel. It would have been naive to believe that others in the world would not come up with variations of traditional techniques as he had done with the shadows, but it did give credence to the theory that their third was also a medic.

With the immediate threat taken care of the group would push forward leaving behind no shortage of possible snacks for the moles if they were indeed giving chase, and while the scientist in him wanted to bring back a specimen for study the need to finish surveying the area took precedence. As they continued to walk a large cave would beckon the group forward, seemingly normal until Tomomi mentioned that the area around them felt frail and creating a large stone puppet to provide extra stabilization for the roof. Cave-in's were not something Shikajin had counted on dealing with today but it looked like the only way forward was through the perilous earthen formation so there was little choice in the matter.

What they would find on the open end of the cave was still a mystery but if their past run ins with the wildlife were any indication it'd probably be some mutated creature looking to lash out.

### | Gurē Ren Yamanaka Tomomi | notes

ulla

[Gurē Ren]

   the things we know...

-  -  -  A S  A B O V E,  S O  B E L O W  -  -  -

---

They would advance and came to a cave with lower ceiling which Ponytail declared was unstable. Ren didn’t have any jutsu that could reinforce walls. Luckily, the other blonde did and a great big golem grew from the ground. It was impressive to watch. Both of the men certainly had some interesting jutsu. He had never seen someone make a puppet out of their surroundings. ”Will this hold after we leave?” he asked, wondering if the people who came after them needed their own pillars or the technique was sort of like the mushroom one where it would stay until destroyed.

Ponytail mentioned a clearing ahead and Ren ventured further, luckily not stepping into any centipedes as he did. The young man had made quite a lot of guardian mushrooms on the way and after the animal and insect attacks so he felt that he had approximately half of his chakra left.

The blonde doctor would come to the exit of the smaller path and into an open ceiling clearing surrounded by rock walls. It was shaped like a dome but there was light coming through from above where there was a large opening. It was quite spacious and he could see that the terrain changed at the other end through what could only be described as a large crack in the dome, which must have been about a hundred meters ahead. ”I think I see the ex-” he turned back to tell the others but was cut short by something falling on him.

Something about a third his size fell on Ren from above and it was quickly identified to be a large grey spider. The thing had a flat body and had a hardened exoskeleton with earth spikes covering its pincers. Ren threw the arachnid off of him and pulled out a kunai from his holster but the spider didn’t attack him yet ran the other way. It ran straight to the middle of the clearing where there was what looked to be a crack in the ground. It was quite large and so dark it seemed impossible to see what was inside. The creature disappeared in the dark. It was calm after but Ren couldn’t help but feel uneasy...

In a couple moments about thirty such spiders escaped from the crack going all directions at first but then honing in on the shinobi footsteps and all of them adjusted their direction towards the three men. The horror did not stop there because another being crawled up from the crack in the ground. It was also a spider but a lot bigger. It was ten meters tall and more than twice as wide. Jagged earth spikes enhanced its body and it gave out an eerie screech that seemed to startle the other spiders into moving faster. It looked like they had decided on their next meal and it was the shinobi in front of them!

---

TAG : Yamanaka Tomomi Nara Shikajin || WORDS : 487 || NOTES : 13/15

simple thread template no jutsu by odango

[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

"It will stay," Tomomi assured Ren about the puppet formation they'd created. "It can only move if I'm supplying it chakra, but it's essentially part of the cave now." It might be a quite surprising sight for the next group of explorers to happen upon. Hopefully it wouldn't startle anyone too badly.

The group continued ahead into the clearing, the exit visible, when all of a sudden a large spider fell onto Ren's back. Tomomi pulled a kunai as well, but the creature skittered away before either shinobi could skewer it. There was a swell of chakra and Tomomi felt a pit of dread in their stomach before, suddenly, a cluster of spiders bloomed from a crack in the earth, threatening to surround the group.

Tomomi got the distinctive feeling that none of them were up-close fighters, so being swarmed by this many enemies could, in theory, be dangerous.

To give them at least a few seconds to prepare, Tomomi retreated. What at first appeared to be a cowardly move turned out to be a carefully plotted one. Forming several hand seals, they generated a field of pyramid-shaped chakra spikes on the ground. Then, as the spiders approached, Tomomi unleashed the attack, spears driving up from the ground to pierce through several spiders' bodies.

It wouldn't get rid of all the little ones, but would at least severely thin their numbers, creating an opening for Shikajin and Ren to either focus on the larger one, or get rid of the straggling small spiders. And if Tomomi was protected, they could maintain this barrier technique and potentially use it again. If the larger spider could be baited into their field of attack, they could help out with further pierces of the spears.

"Focus on the larger one," Tomomi tried to command, though who knew if the Kirigakure shinobi would listen.

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Gurē Ren Nara Shikajin
Jutsu used:

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Kekkai: Sen Yari [Barrier: Thousand Spears]
RANK: A
CHAKRA USAGE: High
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: -
HANDSEALS: 8
DESCRIPTION:

Building off the same principals of Kekkai: Yari, the user creates a vast amounts small of Pyramid shaped structures around themselves within a 20 meter radius. These Pyramid shaped barriers are one inch wide, one inch thick, and one inch in depths, and can be independently aimed towards multiple targets around the user. On command, they will rapidly grow and extend to approximately 3 meters long. This technique serves to strike multiple opponents multiple times each and are much stronger than the original Kekkai: Yari barriers. The strength of the barriers formed by this technique is equivalent to that of steel, making this technique effective for impaling enemy shinobi to restrain and limit their movements. Once a Pyramid has grown its full length, the user can retract the barrier back to its original size in order to launch the attack again unless the barriers created by this technique have been destroyed.

[Nara Shikajin]

♛

The end was nearing for this initial exploration and boy would they have quite a bit to report, though a smidge less if Shikajin and Tomomi decided to leave out the bits about the Kiri-nin. Alas, an area filled with mutated creatures wasn't going to let them just leave without one final goodbye as a lone, stone covered spider fell onto Ren before scurrying off into a rather large crack in the ground. Whatever this anomaly was had caused a massive amount of problems concerning the fauna in the area and it probably wasn't a bad guess to think other teams around the country were having similar encounters.

Sure enough where there was one spider there were a ton more and they all came crawling out of the crack in the ground followed by a huge one that was going to definitely be a problem to deal with. A field of small pyramids would form on the ground and skewer quite a few of the smaller spiders, a technique of the Yamanaka who then gave the order to focus on the larger spider. Holding onto that thing with his shadow would be a task and there was no guarantee they'd be able to kill it before his shadow gave out, but there was only one way to find out.

Shikajin would drop to a knee holding a seal as his shadow once more sprang to life and headed towards the giant spider, then with another seal would widen exponentially until a pool of darkness covered the area. Another seal would see a massive number of tendrils begin to rise from the pool before striking out at the arachnid aiming to both skewer and hold it in place. Given the creatures size and the thickness of the stone protecting it the shadows weren't strong enough to go very deep and the attempted thrashing about meant this technique wasn't going to hold for very long.

"Move quickly, this won't stop it for much longer."

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Kage Engi no Jutsu [Shadow Expansion Technique]
RANK: B
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: N/A
DESCRIPTION:
The user begins this technique as Kage Mane, but the shadow only extends approximately twenty yards before stopping and then widening until a pool of shadow rests beneath the shinobi. This expanded circle of shadow can then be used as a pool to draw shadow from for repeated use of Nara Clan jutsu. The volume of the user's shadow is exponentially increased.

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NAME: Kage Nui no Jutsu [Shadow Sewing Technique]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, etc.
ELEMENT: N/A
DESCRIPTION:
The user is capable of splitting their shadow into tendril sharp enough to pierce flesh. They are able to control each needle-like tendril separately, able of using them to bind opponents. The range is equal to the user's Kage Mane and the tendrils are strong enough to bind most average adult shinobi.

### | Gurē Ren Yamanaka Tomomi | notes

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