Furious Advancement [IO,nk]

Well then, if he was to start working on what he had in mind, his little special project, then he needed to raise his power level. First, he had to decide whether he wanted to do this the intelligent way, or the brute force way. Brute force it was. There was no need to go through this cranially. Standing in the middle of an empty training grounds, he felt the restraints of his bottleneck slipping. This was, of course, a good sign, a sign that he could now move past his weakness and into the realm of power. A slight drizzle had been going on for a while, and showed no sign of either intensifying to abating. Good. This would be a test for him.

Looking up, slightly, he would being charging his chakra, ever so slightly. There was a slight... "curling"? bending? in the air around him. Good, he hadn't fallen off too much. He clenched his fist, and watched as the power crinkled around his fingers as they bent inwards. As he was doing this, he kept raising his power level, higher and higher, but only a bit at a time. If he did things too quickly, he might damage his own body, which would be bad.

As he did this, he meditated on what had happened in his life. Most recently, he had won the blood games, but he didn't feel good about it. That one kid, Ren, who had been his opponent... He had been far superior in terms of even his physical body, and he probably wasn't even a true martial artist. How sad. The anger and frustration in Kozurou's soul began to build. He had to become better! He needed to be stronger! There wasn't anyone in the village who he couldn't surpass. Even if he wasn't destined for greatness, he'd carve his own path.

He focused his chakra, and remembered all of the learning he had gained in the past few days. He'd started to become a self-trained medical nin, gaining an excellent knowledge of the human body (and others), and even though he wasn't as good, it was sufficient for now. But he couldn't do the same tricks with chakra that they could. To heal and to make himself more durable in combat... that was his goal here. There were certain rules that medical nin had to abide by, but since he was a martial artist who rebelled against the decree of heaven in the first place, he didn't need to follow those.

Reach out, and view for oneself the energy of the universe! The power that flowed everywhere, the world elements that represented life and death. Then, disregard all that. Sure, it all existed, but his focus would be on the eternal undying energy within him, the light of his own soul! This light, a power upon which none may intrude. Indeed, this was all he needed to rely on. The energy began to fill him, and his power began to increase rapidly.

The aura around him began to take on a more turgid property as he began to focus and essentially meditate on what he was trying to learn. Knowing things about the human body was easy enough. Any truly proficient cultivator could go that far, studying over and considering the intricacies of the human body. But for him, that wasn't enough. Anybody could heal and harm, anybody could stab or slice or cut with a scalpel. Indeed, almost anyone could apply a bandage properly, and almost anyone could tie a tourniquet. But only  some could perform medical ninjutsu at all. This was his goal.

What was the basis of it? As all practicioners knew, the best way to learn something, no, the most efficient way to learn something was to start at the very root of the art itself. In this case, Kozurou knew better than to assume that the root of medical jutsu was healing. After all, offensive uses of chakra scalpel existed, and there were also multiple poisons. This meant that healing was hardly the basis. No, it was certainly something else. His energy settled into a steady rhythm as he contemplated how to best go about doing this.

Destruction, also, was not the basis of it. This much was obvious. The mystical palm, the cover all jutsu of the medical nin, was evidence enough. Something that didn't just heal, but re-energized the target? There were countless other examples as well. So, he was presented with two different energies which flowed through him, making him feel as if his very chakra system was being expanded, his meridians being destroyed and rebuilt wider, stronger, more powerful. Wait... that was it! At the moment, Kozurou was being presented with two different energies. One that created, and one that destroyed.

Death... and rebirth. The truth behind medical ninjutsu was not singular, but had a mystery of duality to it. Kozurou had previously failed to grasp this, but now that he had, the world seemed so much larger to him. There were now so many possibilities for his future, and now that he had begun to redevelop his meridians, he'd be even more powerful than before. Indeed, it looked like his future was now bright and limitless, instead of dull and restricted like it had been before. Perhaps, even, if he tried hard enough, people might call him a genius instead of trash.

Seizing the energies, Kozurou felt something within him surge and leap like a tidal wave. The sheer power began to explode out of him, the aura seeming to surround him. He'd reconstructed his meridians, but now it was time for his dantian, his hara, his center of chakra. Gaaah, such excruciating pain! But he was a martial artist, a cultivator. And his way was to endure! When the process finished, the power flowing through his meridians cycles around one more time, then settled into its new container. Ah, this feeling... each day he could do something like this brought him a step closer to his goal.

[TWC 1008]

Ren sat in his office, an full glass of whiskey sitting in his hand. The boy sat staring out the window at the dark gloomy sky that always overlooked the village, it was raining again, it was always raining in this damn village; even when it wasn't 'raining' there was still rain clouds and a brewing storm. Ren took a sip from the glass, the strong burn of the alcohol calming his nerves and distracting his mind from thoughts of the recent blood games... of the lives lost there and those forever scared as a result; at least the alcohol distracted Ren for a moment, before thoughts of that one dreadful moment came back, replaying itself over and over in Ren's head, until Ren could place the exact moment when hinoki's spine had snapped, the exact sound his bones made as they cracked under the combined force of the two attacks... Ren drained the entire glass in his hand before opening a fresh bottle that had been waiting on his desk.

Just as Ren was about to take another swig from his glass he noticed a glow in the training grounds; a lone figure standing in the rain. 'Is that...' Ren thought for a moment convinced he was seeing things, but the figure remained there regardless of how many times he blinked. 'That murderous bastard thinks he can get away with fowling my accademy with his prescence!' Ren thought in a rage. Draining the rest of his freshly poured glass in an instant Ren threw open the window and lept to the ground, landing in a cloud of dust and striding towards the boy; his chakra flaring up in response to his anger as he did so. "YOU! You think your welcome here after what you did boy! Yo-Hic You think I'll let you use MY accademy as a source of more innocents to kill!" Ren bellowed across the training grounds as he walked towards the boy, a minor swaying in his gait evidence of his drunkeness for anyone skilled enough to notice it. Finishing his speech Ren would be within a few meters of the boy, and if the boy hadn't responded by this point Ren would throw a clumsy haymaker at the boy, attempting to slog the boy right in the face.

Ha! This was what he'd been looking for. To be able to create and destroy living tissue, to choose whether to harm or heal... this meant he had reached the root of the issue. He was now able to learn medical ninjutsu, perhaps even better and faster than most other people in Kiri. The possibility of just healing mid-combat and the ability to negate damage entirely was an appetizing one to him. His reverie, however, was interrupted by some faint yelling. Hard to hear through the rain, but he was able to make it out as the noise got closer. What was this, some white haired chick wanting him to...

No, it was Ren, his opponent from the exams. Well, shit. He thought that he might have to pay more attention to the sign when he came in. He recalled the name of the person that ran the academy, and felt a tinge of apprehension. So, a mere chunin ran the whole of the academy? Disgusting. You would have thought that the lord kage would have delivered it into the hands of somebody more experienced. Still, there must've been some wisdom in the decision. Perhaps there really was nobody else. Depressing, but either way, there was nothing he could do about it.

Still, the boy's words made him think of an idea. He didn't plan on ACTUALLY opposing this kid, but perhaps Ren could teach him something. Not anything as to a master-student relationship, but more to the effect of "sparring pointers". Well, since he was clearly inebriated, something that Kozurou would never submit to, he might as well try and get a rise out of him. For practical reasons, of course. Simple teasing for pleasure was beyond him. Everything he did (mostly) had a purpose, whether it was crashing a boat into a couple of towers, or eating steamed hams on Wednesdays.

"Oh?" He'd begin, bringing up his left hand to catch the boy's right haymaker. The catch would stop the hand 5 inches away from its intended contact point, preventing it from causing harm to Kozurou. Hmm, what was this? The boy was much weaker than Kozurou was. Exerting force on the boy's fist, Kozurou would push him back, creating a gap between the two once more.

"Well, what are you going to do to stop me?" It was worth noting that Ren was faster than Kozurou, but it didn't mean much. The boy had fought an ANBU a bit prior to this, so he had learned something about fighting opponents who were faster than he was. In addition, this child's punches were so weak that he probably wouldn't even NEED to block, though that was debatable. Either way, Kozurou would be there with a slight grin on his face with the intention of taunting Ren into a more interesting reaction.
[TWC 1481]

Ren saw the boy's hand move to grab his arm but of course with his senses dulled as they were Ren didn't react fast enough to stop him, All the same once the boy caught his haymaker Ren spat in the boy's face, right in the eyes; if the boy shut his eyes Ren, seeing the opportunity would step in and go for a knee to the groin. Even in his drunken stupor Ren knew he wasn't that strong, but the blow would no doubt cause the boy some pain anyway. "Your a disgrace to this village and everything it stands for" Ren shouted as he kneed the boy, "and if you won't leave I'll make you leave!" Meanwhile as he was spitting at the boy Ren's hand, which was free to move since Kozaru had grabbed Ren's arm in order to catch his Haymaker twisted slightly and flattened out, the dark river breaking seal flaring up for a second as a bolt of force exploded from his hand and traveled a few centimeters to the boy's arm. The blow no doubt enough to shatter his arm if given the chance."

After all of this Kozaru would likely be in some incredible pain, Ren would speak one more time, giving the boy one last chance to leave. "Leave here, You are not and never will be welcome here" Ren said, punctuating his sentence by spitting at the boy's feet.

Kozurou would blink, clearing his vision. However, as he did this, Ren began to step in. Since the step and the knee itself were two different actions, one contingent upon the other, Kozurou would have enough time to merely blink before the movement for the knee attack initiated. As such, Kozurou would have more than enough time to react, bringing his left foot up slightly to have a good, strong kick at Ren's shin (on the leg that he was trying to perform the knee attack with). Should this connect, Kozurou would hear a rather odd breaking sound. Strange how fragile bones were. It would be a small fracture, not anything life-threatening unless maybe if he stood on it. At the same time, Kozurou would, instead of pushing the boy back, would instead exert force on the forearm that he was gripping, using his superior strength to essentially casually toss the boy into the far wall of the courtyard, about 20 meters away on Kozurou's left. As such, the bolt that would be fired would go wild, missing Kozurou by quite a few meters. This throw would happen at 97 speed, but with just enough power to break Ren's bones without killing him. Comrade killing wasn't going to be a thing yet for him, he had decided. The aforementioned physical actions, such as the kick, would all be performed at 50 speed and 65 strength, including the motion pre-throw on Ren's arm.

[Uninspired TWC 1723]

Stepping into Kozurou Ren felt a sharp pain in his leg as the boy's own knee collided with his own, Drunk as he was Ren's vision was swimming and the constant movement was giving him a ridiculous headache, just as began to swing him around Ren released his seal, the first bolt flying wide and striking a wall in the distance, of course Ren reflexively released a second bolt at a different angle to strike the boy, but with his vision swimming his aim was off, a few moments later Ren was flying into a wall. "Your a real piece of work" Ren coughed, spitting out some blood as he attempted to move. The pain was immense, but Ren was used to pain, and fortunately for him his right arm wasn't shattered. Focusing his chakra into it he sat there for a moment, flowing medical chakra into his hand and using it to repair his wounds and broken bones. Once Ren reached his right arm he focused in and realised where that sharp pain was coming from, a shard of wood had managed to embed itself in his arm.

Focusing for a moment as in his drunken state Ren wondered whether he'd lose the arm, 'It cant hurt to be careful' He thought as he formed a few hand seals and used them to channel his chakra into his hand as he placed it upon his arm and allowed the cells there to attach to his palm. Pulling his hand away from the arm Ren flowed his chakra into the cells and allowed the chakra there to regenerate the cells, rapidly growing into a copy of his arm. His bones healed and a spare arm in his one good hand Ren stood up and , spitting some blood out again, gave Kozurou a glare as he stumbled inside to find one of the medical professors.

A few hours later Ren would find himself sitting in his office healed up and sobered up as well. 'Perhaps I should steer clear of the drink from now on, I guess I was a little harsh on the boy as well, I should probably go apologize to him some time' Ren thought, tapping his fingers on the desk as he figured out how to show the boy his appreciation.

Twc: 1008
Potential Exit?
Claiming 1008 towards Body Replication - Using 25% discount

This was why Kozurou stayed the hell away from alcohol. Still, this guy's chakra was certainly higher than his own, so he knew that there was certainly room for improvement here. Either way, he'd gotten what he'd come here for in the first place. He'd reached the truth of the root of medical ninjutsu. This little skirmish with this man was just a little side treat that he'd gotten today. Being able to flex his power against a real opponent was quite the treat. He felt that his strength level was now in a pretty good place, so it was time to focus on things like endurance and stamina training instead, processes that would surely take much longer. In the end, though, it would all be worth it. After all, if he was going to be the best, he'd definitely have to put some work into it.

Ignoring the man's glare and words, he would silently walk out of the area, heading to probably go get a meal of some sort. He fancied steamed hams today, and intended to get some. Still, what DID Ren means by "serious case of work" or whatever he said? He absolutely was. All of the power he'd gained up to this point had been a result of his own hard work and training, so he took pride in that. If he didn't, he might as well not have worked hard for this at all. This physical power and this burgeoning chakra potential had come from nobody else but himself, and if he failed to attribute that to himself, then he was nothing after all. With that thought, Kozurou would leave silently.

[TWC 2000,
10 stats
2000/2000 towards Med spec
exit]

Approved