[Honō Kojirou]

Before the previous Chūnin Exams began, Kojirou was in a weird headspace of anxiety regarding Saya. He came face to face with these feelings, having to open his heart and reveal his worries and most vulnerable sides of himself to his own sister, and… she embraced him. And just like that, he no longer felt weak by harboring such strong emotions – a shinobi as he was, his heart wasn’t stabbed with a dagger just yet. It was still alive… beating, deep inside.

But today, it was way after those Exams ended. Kojirou was a promoted Chūnin now, and his parents were adamant that he try out new uniforms. As a Chūnin, he also had clearance to use the village’s Flak Jacket, but he had a twist in his design…

A green tunic, long and sleeveless, with a net shirt underneath – the tunic only ran over his left shoulder, while his right arm carried the copper armor piece that his family members forged for him, the Tategami. With solid ninja leggings to substitute his previous hakama, he felt a little more agile and flexible in this outfit, but also less… wavy. The typical wave of his previous red haori and hakama were lost now…

But fret not! He would wear them again tomorrow… maybe.

Either way, his Tategami hadn’t even seen combat yet. It was fresh out of the forge, so he wanted to run a few tests near the training grounds – but wearing a new outfit made him very, very, very, very, very uncomfortable at first. What if it didn’t look good on him? Wait, it was shinobi wear – it was just supposed to be practical… but what if it wasn’t?!

"I should’ve kept my red haori… but my Tategami doesn’t fit in it…”

Instead of actually entering the training grounds, he ended up hugging a nearby tree and peek towards the place like a stalker, awaiting the right time when the least amount of trainees would be present to silently judge him.

[Futago Kumori]

Kumori herself is heading towards the training grounds as well, though there's significantly less on her mind. The closer the time gets to the Chuunin Exams, the less she thinks about it, ironically enough. She has to trust in her sword skills to be able to carry her through the difficult job of proving just how capable she is and worthy of the rank of Chuunin she must be. Thanks to this unburdened mindset, she's quick to notice that Kojirou is standing there clinging to a tree and gazing wistfully into the training grounds. She realizes now that although he'd promoted to Chuunin himself recently that she hadn't actually congratulated him on this achievement, so she approaches him quickly, thinking nothing of his odd action in embracing the tree in this manner; Kojirou happened to be an odd fellow, so it wasn't out of character for him to act in such a peculiar manner.

"Hello, Kojirou. Congratulations on your promotion to Chuunin."

While the statement is said with little fanfare or shouting, it is said out of nowhere, and rapidly followed by a hand clapping onto his shoulder to show how proud she is of his accomplishment, and she's a bit surprised when her hand claps onto some piece of metal, and she seems to notice the wardrobe change for the first time. Despite his odd actions just now, he certainly looked quite authoritative in his choice of clothing, and she had to admit that he looked fairly handsome this way, although she wasn't necessarily attracted to him in that way. It was more of an observation.

"I see you've decided to change from red to green. It's not a bad look."

Kumori then turns to look at the training grounds that Kojirou had been gazing at, and then turns her attention back to him, a bit of a fiery look in her eyes.

"What do you say to some more training? I'm sure with your new rank, you've gained a few new skills, too, so it'll probably be a much more one-sided training spar in your favor this time, but I'm excited to see how you've improved."

[Honō Kojirou]

”Yip!” Kojirou yipped, his body jolting a few feet up in the air before landing on his stiff feet again- oh, it was Kumori! Threat neutralized! Threat neutralized!

"Oh, hi Kumori!” Kojirou greeted with renewed vigor and light on his face, immediately feeling a bit more at ease with her around. Sure, it was usually like this – helpless and afraid as he often felt, whether in the Academy or outside of it, Kumori was always there to make sure he wasn’t taken advantage of by bullies or cons on the street. Like a very protective older sister who reminded him a lot of Chisai-neechan.

"Thanks… uh, do you like my new gear? I had Uncle forge this arm… plate-guard-thingie for me, too. Called a Tategami,” Kojirou expressed, poking the armor guard covering his right arm, "We found some old blueprints and… hmh… y’know, it’d look really cool on you too. Maybe I can have Uncle forge one for you as well!”

Kumori was powerful enough to not let herself be hindered by her main arsenal, and shinobi weren’t exactly rumored for great armor values, but… he just let it out there. Just in case. Either way, he was also glad to know that green suited him well – he’d been synonymous with red for the longest time, thanks to his haori and the edges of his hair. If only he, too, inherited some blood-red hair akin to Saya’s…

Skills… that’s right! He did obtain much more than just a new façade – ever since his short journey to the Land of Wind, his technique and fighting style had changed drastically. Could it be… he was now the better fighter?! He didn’t know why, but imagining the shocked, marvelous look on Kumori’s face sent shivers down his spine – like a confirmation of his elevated skill, that he truly did get stronger… that his actions weren’t for naught back then. Some validation to his life choices would feel really good right now…

"I’m ready when you are!” he declared with burning eyes, "I’ve learned some really cool techniques since last time we sparred… but I bet you’ve mastered swinging that huge, giant, big, really-really-big sword now, too. However!” He punctuates his last word with an index finger pointing straight up in the air, before he pointed it towards her valiant face. "I can promise you this, Kumori… s-should my cards play right this time- I-I mean, definitely, I can say for certain, this! You will not be able to harm me today! What do you say? Do you accept my challenge?”

[Futago Kumori]

Kumori smiles as Koji offers to have his uncle forge her a pauldron for her as well, but she already has her own armor anyways. As lovely as the Tategami armor looks, she's not certain she'd want it more than the armor she already has on now, especially since it might slow her down as much as the armor she's wearing already does. Her sword and the weight of all the armor she's already wearing is heavy enough, she thinks. The last thing she wants to do is weigh herself down so much that she's no longer able to make use of her greater speed. So, unfortunately, she had to turn down this offer, even if she did really like the sound of that.

"I appreciate the offer, but, unfortunately, I'm already wearing quite a bit of armor. Although I'm sure your uncle can create very strong armor, I'm afraid it's not something I can hope to use and manage to stay as fast as I am right now."

She thought to ask him about whether or not his uncle could actually make weapons, but she thought it might be hoping too much. For now, she was feeling a bit playful when he states how he's ready for training when she is, as well as the fact that he's apparently learned some "really cool" techniques since they'd last had some training with one another. Kumori wonders if perhaps Koji had spent just a little too long outside of Kusagakure, and had become rather more urban in his thoughts, as evidenced by his word choices. She also raises an eyebrow when he suggests that she won't be able to harm him if they were to spar right now, and she shakes her head a little.

"I wouldn't be able to harm you regardless; you're my friend, Kojirou, and I'd never want to harm you... But if it's a spar you want, then a spar you shall have!"

[Honō Kojirou]

Oh… yeah, if he glared at her outfit a bit more, he’d realize the obvious – she was geared up enough as is. No need to burden her any further. "Aww… fair enough,” Kojirou sulked in acceptance, pouting adorably as he usually did. Truth be told, he didn’t notice his change in vocabulary – but it was apparent, and it was… notable. Between his time in the Land of Lightning and the Land of Wind, he’d gotten a bit desensitized to the good-old, Kusa-booney accent-

No worries! He’d revert back to his old ways soon enough. He was in the heart of the grassland right this instant, anyway.

"Then a spar we shall commence! I remember you practicing with the very large wooden sword back then, too – did ya get a real one now? ‘Cuz you look stronger than last time, too.”

He’d be braindead to undermine any of Kumori’s achievements, not to mention undermining anyone wasn’t in Kojirou’s nature to begin with. Even if he’d gotten stronger… there were still lingering, eternal embers of the naïve bean he always was. His parents’ prayers kept those embers burning for all eternity – may he never change.

But until Kumori took the reins and big-bear-sistered Kojirou again, he'd enjoy being the big boy he felt he was for the very temporary amount of time he had. Difference in heights be damned. Alas, another thing to notice on Kojirou’s new exterior was on his left arm – a few, faint sealing inscriptions were painted around the wrist for some purpose.

[Futago Kumori]

Kumori smiles when she realizes that Kojirou had never actually seen the sword she'd been training to be able to use, and she brings out the finely filligree'd metal sheathe that was actually quite sharp itself, although she's able to carefully hold it without cutting herself or revealing its potential use as part of the blade. With this, she draws the longsword from the sheathe for Kojirou to admire; unlike almost every other swordsman from the Futago clan, Kumori was using a straight sword with a long handle, something that could cut with either side, rather than having a blunt side and a sharp side. It was even different compared to the bokken that the Futago often trained with. She holds it up for Kojirou to get a good look at, pretending that the highly stylized sheathe was merely that.

"This is the sword I've been training to be able to wield to full effect. It's a fine, sharp blade, but also very agile. I'm able to wield it quite easily, thanks to the training you've provided to me with that heavier wooden training blade. So you're not the only one with some new equipment!"

With that, she replaces the longsword into its sheathe, and then carefully and delicately locking the blade into its metal sheathe, pretending as though she'd done no such thing. Then she gestures with a tilt of her head towards the training grounds, smirking at him before she walks straight into the nearest sand-filled ring, then turning back towards him.

"So let's see what you can do now, Kojirou!"

[Honō Kojirou]

What a magnificently big-ass sword. Kojirou’s eyes almost bulged out of his eye sockets at the sight – despite its size, it still looked like a perfectly balanced straight sword. A tsurugi, with two edges instead of one. "Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooh,” his mouth echoed through the training grounds, "It’s even cooler than I imagined… and you make it look as light as a feather!”

Certainly, no matter what he learned to make himself a better shinobi, he’d always be surrounded by wonders such as this. He’d certainly be unable to wield that – he simply stuck to lighter weaponry, sacrificing weight and finishing power in exchange for… I guess versatility?

Either way, visibly, Kojirou bore no big weapons on him… only his seals on his left arm, and his bandolier carrying some kunai and scrolls. However, moving his right hand towards his left hip, a fancy phenomenon took place – he grabbed a hilt that burst out of a small smoke cloud, flicking his hand back to his right side as he suddenly held a beam of smoke emerging from his hip… that settled away, presenting a pristinely maintained katana. A strange detail was the thin, crystal-blue edge that ran along a metal alloy spine – an unorthodox, single-edged katana.

Pointing the edge towards her, another strange phenomenon took place – the blade began to wobble and lose its form as if melting under the sun, awaiting Kumori’s next move. "You get the first move… and I’ll keep my guard up. No matter what.”

Jutsu Used:

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Mageyasuibuki [Flexible Weapon]
RANK: E
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low [Continuous Cost]
CLASSIFICATION: Genjutsu
TRIGGER: Visual
DESCRIPTION:
With the slight waving of a [generally] straight weapon, the user's weapon will begin to lose form and become an unpredictable, flexible and bendy weapon. This affects a target's visual senses.

[Futago Kumori]

Kumori finds it a bit funny that Koji finds her unsheathed sword quite large already, when it was actually just large compared to most katana, and not realizing that when the blade is locked into its steel scabbard that it becomes a far larger greatsword. She watches as he moves into position, with both of her hands on her weapon's longer grip, only for Kojirou to suddenly seemingly pull a blade of smoke from his left hip. Her eyebrows furrow; his sword hadn't been doing that kind of thing in their last spar with one another, and she has to wonder if his sword was somehow made of smoke. She told herself that she'd best keep her distance from him if that's the case. That shouldn't be too hard, in her opinion, since her own weapon, even unsheathed, is longer than his own katana, if only by a little over an inch.

Kojirou also gives her the first move, although he does warn that he's going to keep his guard up. She wouldn't expect anything different for him to do, as she had already been impressed by his skill with a sword beforehand. Regardless, in a move that might surprise or confuse Kojirou, she doesn't actually remove her longsword from its scabbard, but instead rapidly closes the distance with the filligree'd steel scabbard locked around the handguard of the sword, and she swings the blade up from below and towards Kojirou's right wrist, though before the sharpened edge might make contact with his arm, she makes sure to twist the blade a bit to ensure that if her attack should make contact with her friend, that it would only be with the flat, never with a sharp edge.

"You did ask for it!"

[Honō Kojirou]

He just noticed that the scabbard made the large sword look even larger than before. Maybe… just maybe, he should’ve noticed that first, but he also didn’t know that Kumori would use the scabbard as an extra appendage to her sword like this. It came as a surprise to him – Chieko had a similar idea back when she forged him his current katana! So she must’ve either helped Kumori too… or Kumori was just as genius as her.

Either way! Kumori aimed for his right wrist that was coated in the Tategami – while the armor piece didn’t run around the entire arm, he could still use it as a pseudo-shield, and that he did, simply by bending his arm to make her sword make contact with the rust-red metal! The metal, upon that very moment of impact, felt like a softer material… like rubber…

And then, the impact was returned to her sword, aiming to push it back as hard as she swung it against him! The secret power of the Tategami was to ward off physical attacks like this – its metal alloy was mixed with special rubber residue in a way that only the smiths within Kojirou’s clan knew of. He merely channeled his chakra into the Tategami to use the rubber residue as a ‘trampoline’, bouncing off physical attacks like this!

"Take this! This is my Tategami’s true ability – see if you can get past its defense!”

Tategami Abilities:

SPOILER: Click to show

Increased Durability: Despite its size, the armor piece is extremely difficult to break through with sharp or blunt weapons, and the user can confidently block most Taijutsu or Bukijutsu that land on it. Because of its size, and the fact that it only covers one arm, large-scale Taijutsu or Bukijutsu (such as large waves or explosions brought forth by punching the air, ground etc.) can easily bypass its area and harm the user anyway. Due to this, it's also much harder to block Ninjutsu, unless they're in small sizes and low power to begin with.

Impact Absorption: The armor piece's rubber-metal fusion alloy grants it an uncanny ability to absorb shock impact from attacks. Most physical attacks, if solely landing on this armor piece, won't even move the wielder on impact - unless it's being hit by an A-Rank or S-Rank Taijutsu or Bukijutsu; A-Rank techniques are strong enough to launch the wielder back, and S-Rank techniques can tear through the armor with ease (being hit by Fūinjutsu or a Jutsu that specifically messes with the user's weight/lifts the wielder, or directly affects the wielder's foothold can also bypass this ability).

Lava Reflection (Chakra-Reactive): This armor piece was forged with the purpose of aiding those few members in each generation who awakened Lava Release. By channeling Lava Release chakra through the armor piece (Low Chakra Cost), the wielder interacts with rubber residue forged into the metal, causing colliding objects to be bounced back at high speed. It does little to no lasting damage on objects like this, but using this technique on foes can launch them back as if bounced off by a large trampoline. Objects that can be blocked by this armor piece can be launched back as far as 30 meters, and while foes have an easier time stopping in their tracks than tools or weapons, the shockwave can still catch them off guard. Keen users can even utilize this technique to deflect projectile weaponry away.

[Futago Kumori]

Kumori is actually quite surprised by the power of the deflection that's apparently possible with Kojirou's Tategami armor, and for a moment, she finds herself almost losing control of such a huge sword. It's only because of some pretty quick reflexes that she's able to regain control by following the rebounded movement of her blade and bring it back upwards instead, holding the blade with its point towards her friend so he won't advance on her while she tries to become accustomed to the power of such armor. It really was quite a shock, and she wonders if this defensive armor can be made for her, after all. Clearly, his armor wasn't quite like her own wind-infused armor, and had a much more superb defensive ability.

"Oh! How impressive! You say your uncle made this armor for you?"

Ah, perhaps she wouldn't be able to use it after all, if it was made with Hono crafting. They had their own special elemental release that wasn't accessible to anyone born outside of their clan, she knew that much already. She doubted they would want to share too many of their products with others, in case the armor or weapons were confiscated by an opposing army, while their clan members were obviously quite skilled with their own methods of using their armor, as evidenced by the fact that her own sword could not seem to break the defense.

But then, Kumori knows that there's more than one way to ruin an opponent's defense, and one didn't need to break through it at all in order to "get past" it. Kumori shifts her weight, and then extends her blade as she lunges forwards, but then her attack might seem to disappear without actually hitting Kojirou, along with Kumori herself likely disappearing from her friend's view. He's seen this technique being used by her before, of course, and so Kumori doesn't follow up with her usual sword swing that would have followed up the normal use of such a technique; she'd learned well from her clan, and it was likely still impressive that she was able to make use of such a rapid technique with a giant sword such as hers.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Nise yūrei [False Ghost]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Bukijutsu
ELEMENT: N/A
HANDSEALS: 0
REQUIREMENT: Above Average Speed, Bukijutsu Spec
DESCRIPTION:
A basic technique compared to the rest, False Ghost consists of a rapid movement towards the enemy, with weapon brandished and open, and then slide past them without doing anything. The idea behind the technique is to make the opponent react to an obvious threat that is not actually there to react to, putting them off balance or causing them to expect something that isn't coming.

[Honō Kojirou]

”Yup! It’s an old reliced piece of armor, too!” Kojirou laid out a bit of exposition, watching closely as Kumori quickly recovered her stance with the edge of her large sword pointing towards him. Even taken by surprise like this, she didn’t lose her foothold at all. Still, if she tried to attack again, he’d try to block with the Tategami once more – repetitive, I know, but he was still practicing with it. He definitely had a good grasp of the rubber residue deep inside of his armor piece… and his Lava Release meshed tightly with it. Even now, he could feel each microscopic rubber piece expanding from his chakra, ready to repel enemy attacks.

Kumori advanced forward, and Kojirou decided to meet her halfway with his Tategami ready to slam into the trajectory of her swor- where did she go?! Wait, not this again! He knew what this was – she did the same thing last time they sparred, the vixen! With a sword as gigantic as hers, he just freaking forgot she could do something like that – just how solid was her balance?!

"Nooooo! No no no, not this again-" Kojirou panicked, swiping his free hand across to emit another cloud of smoke – this time, he unsealed his chained sickle, long-chained and carrying a weight at the other end. Without hesitation, he swung it low and in a wide circle around himself, trying to see if he’d be lucky enough to swoop Kumori’s feet over. "I-I have more than just a sword now! I widened my arsenal since last time…!”

[Futago Kumori]

Kumori finds herself almost giggling at Koji's surprise at her speed with being able to get behind him, but then she's surprised when he brings out something else from a cloud of smoke, and she hears the rattling of chain, which is the most warning she gets before she's swept from her feet. In a rush of panic, she activates her clan's hijutsu, causing her adrenal gland to go into overdrive and pump her with its helpful and life-saving hormone. While she wasn't able to avoid the attack like she might have been able to when he had been the same rank and close to the same skill level as Kumori herself, now she was forced to react to the aftermath of his counter-attack, by stuffing the tip of her greatsword into the ground and using it to keep herself from falling.

"Oof! You've definitely changed up what you can do with that! But tell me, are you good at using so much of your equipment at the same time?"

She smiles a bit then and floods her sword up with Wind-natured chakra, causing the space between the filigree to glow with that telltale greenish color to show that it was now making use of wind chakra, and she launches herself up from the ground, pulling herself up by the weight of her sword in order to gain height before she comes crashing down towards him with the tip of her sword pointed at him. Such an attack should be easy enough to dodge, even if Koji was a bit of a goofball. Still, she'd also be able to pull back on the attack if Koji isn't able to react quickly enough.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Bureibā [Braver]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Bukijutsu
ELEMENT: N/A
HANDSEALS: N/A
REQUIREMENT: Giant sword
DESCRIPTION:
The wielder jumps high in the air and brings their giant sword down on their target with immense force

[Honō Kojirou]

She managed to launch herself up in the air like a rocket with just the thrust of her sword! Upon a closer glance, he saw a hue around her sword, but he wasn’t any Sensory-type shinobi, so that tidbit of information told him very little. All he knew was that Kumori was now charging down towards him like a meteor, amazed by her speed of recovery! It had to be due to the Hijutsu that the Futago clan held dear… wait, was it a Hijutsu or a Kekkei Genkai?

Ah, questions for later.

She definitely expected him to dodge… and he wanted to use the Umbrella for this one, but he wasn’t confident that it’d be able to prevent her chakra-infused sword from piercing through. Instead, he did as expected and leapt to the side at high speed, making use of the Subakage-ryū to move with as minimal wasted movement as possible for extra momentum. I’m not really the steppy guy here, but I think I can even the playing field…

Pointing the edge of his katana towards her location, he’d reveal to her another trick he’d been keeping up his sleeve until now – weaving handseals… with just his free hand! Yōton: Kuro Ashikubi Shikakejirai!

Slapping his free hand onto the ground caused the earth in a 5 meter radius to manifest a puddle of sticky, adhesive tar. Skating around the puddle, Kojirou taunted her: "Good luck speeding around now! I’ve changed the landscape to my advantage… or, well, a tiny bit of the landscape, b-but someday, I’ll be able to cover a larger area!”

Jutsu(s) Used:

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: Yōton: Kuro Ashikubi Shikakejirai [Lava Release: Black Ankle Entrapment]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Yōton
HANDSEALS: 3
DESCRIPTION:
Forming three hand seals the user will force his chakra into the earth and draw out a 10 meter diameter puddle of tar that coats the ground. This black tar is both flammable and sticky and will hold any enemy or ally foolish enough to walk across it, though it is shallow and only just covers the soles of the feet. It can be camouflaged with the use of leaves, loose grass, or sticks thrown across the surface to disguise it. The hold of the tar can be easily broken through the use of Raiton chakra. Any other methods will require a decent expenditure of energy.

[Futago Kumori]

Kumori smiles when she can see him stepping aside, and she prepares to land and leap away, but then she can see that his other hand is moving rapidly, but not to any of his other weapons; instead, he's weaving handseals, but with only one hand! He's come up with a lot of tricks since the last time she'd met him for training, for sure! But now she has a new problem of a puddle of what looks like some kind of black rubbery material, and she doesn't think she'd be safe landing on it if he said that he had just changed the landscape to his liking. Unfortunately, the Genin had to abandon her original plan of attacking him with her blade in this method, and had to resort to a completely different method; instead, she turns her body a bit to throw her giant blade at great speed towards Koji before bringing both hands together to form a single handseal of her own. While she's not capable of using seals one-handed, she can keep Koji busy while also freeing up her hands enough for at least long enough to make a handseal and use one Ninjutsu technique.

Standing now on the barest sliver of Wind Release chakra instead of directly on the tar, she turns to rush at Koji, moving even faster than before thanks to the technique she's using now in addition to her naturally very quick speed. Hopefully, the speed is enough to make him draw back a bit and might allow her to grab hold of her sword again and prepare for another of her usual overwhelming offensives. Just in case, she makes use of her clan's hijutsu again, hopefully allowing her to react quickly enough if Koji tries to counter-attack to just barely avoid a strike from him.

"Koji-kun, you really are full of surprises now! If you'd done even half of these things during last year's Chuunin Exams, you definitely would've won!"

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Hisenken [Flying Revolving Sword]

RANK: C

CHAKRA USAGE: Low

CLASSIFICATION: Bukijutsu

ELEMENT: N/A

HANDSEALS: N/A

REQUIREMENT: Giant sword

DESCRIPTION:
The wielder throws their giant sword at the opponent, dealing damage as it spins towards them. If the Dantō gets stuck on something in its path, a person can stand on it.

NAME: Fūton: Kaze Sanpo [Wind Release: Wind Walk]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Fūton
HANDSEALS: 1
DESCRIPTION:
This technique allows the user to create a wind like base under their feet, reducing friction and enhancing the user's speed. The user doesn't seem to be levitating unless under close inspection which they seem to be about 1.5 - 2cm off the ground. Apart from enhancing speed, this technique gives the user the ability to walk on water and evade projectile attacks with ease.

[Honō Kojirou]

… For some reason, Kojirou thought that the tar wouldn’t stop Kumori from approaching him, thinking that she had some sort of trick up her sleeve – and evidently, she did, but his eyes widened when she just swung her giant blade ahead, letting go of it as it spun towards him like a giant disc! "Eeep!” he yipped, pulling his head back, further and further, until he almost slammed his skull against the sticky floor in order to avoid the blade like playing limbo.

Skating back, he had no time or space to catch his breath – Kumori had already retrieved her giant blade and was laying the law down on him, forcing him to do what he promised to do at the very beginning and stay on the defensive – parrying and deflecting such heavy onslaughts was quickly aching his muscles up! Glaring at his moving blade, he knew he needed to make more space between him and Kumori in order to return the fire, so with a single, one-handed seal, his body flickered away like a shadow being illuminated by a flashlight – just darting out of view as he reappeared several meters back.

He immediately re-sheathed his katana and held it back, preparing a quickdraw as evident by his stance – Kumori would recognize this stance immediately, since Kojirou’s taken it countless times before when sparring with Saya. "I think I was relying too much on my Ninjutsu back then… but now! Move as fast as you can, Kumori – otherwise, this next technique will overwhelm you!”

Jutsu(s) Used

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Shunshin no Jutsu [Body Flicker Technique]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [General]
ELEMENT: None
HANDSEALS: 1
DESCRIPTION:
By invigorating one's entire body with chakra, a shinobi can seemingly disappear and reappear in another location faster than most people can see. Often times one's movements are disguised with the use of an extra element, be it a smoke bomb, leaves, water, sand, etc. in order to hide the user's trajectory from those with skilled eyes. Though it mimics teleportation, it is important to remember this jutsu merely boosts the agility of its user. As useful as this technique is, it can only be used 4 times in a battle thread, compounding in exertion and difficulty each time. with any more usages beyond that result in muscle tears in the legs from overexertion. The hand seal for this technique must be held until the shinobi reaches their destination, making it impossible to utilize other techniques regardless of any preparation.