Different Breeds [P]

Returning to the training grounds after a rather lengthy conversation with his grandfather, Koutaku’s mind was elsewhere as he once more retrieved training wire from the training facility. Absentmindedly, he dodged and narrowly avoided--or parried--the actions of various training shinobi as he made his way to his destination. Having considered what he’d like to do with Travin, Koutaku had reserved a medium-sized training room that came well equipped with defensive seals and reinforcements, as well as the ability to customize the environment as needed. It was private as well and had its own unique locking mechanisms, ensuring that no one else could enter, or snoop on them once they had both arrived.

Stepping through the doorway after he’d deactivated the locks, the young man took what he decided would be his place on the far end of the octagonal room. Withdrawing his wakizashi, Koutaku began to sit, stabbing the blade’s tip into the ground as he did so. Then, with the blade before him, Koutaku performed the handseals necessary to swap his real wire with that of his training set. After all, though it belonged to the facility, there were so few shinobi who used the stuff that Koutaku had begun to think of the supply as his own after a fashion.

Sitting cross-legged now, Koutaku closed his eyes and expanded his senses while he waited for his ally. Expression serene, Koutaku focused intently on the flow of his chakra through his body and made an effort to push some through the ground and to his blade. Successful in the maneuver, Koutaku used chakra infusion on the blade and began to feel out its every aspect. In time, he’d withdraw a fuma shuriken from his dimensional storage and after unfurling it with a twist of his wrist, Koutaku reached behind himself and strapped it into place on his back with an array of wires he set up with several careful motions. Once there he focused on both it and the singular blade before him, infusing the lot of them with chakra.

By the time Travin arrived, Koutaku would gave been sitting in place for roughly twenty minutes, and the chakra in both the weapon on his back and the wakizashi before him would have taken on a strange glow.

It was a half step beyond regular chakra flow, but nothing so potent that it could be called its own technique exactly.

Not yet.

Spoiler:

Not bothering to open an eye as he heard Travin enter, lock the door, and then open a dialogue, Koutaku responded.

“Something hinted at in some texts I read from the family library,” his words, though empty of any teasing tone, seemed to hint at greater secrets, things he might share with Travis someday in the somewhat near future. Maybe.

“No official terminology in the books though and I failed to find anything useful in the village library—nor when I was studying from your collection earlier. As such, I’m just calling it Layering. Simply put, the practice of folding chakra upon itself in layers. This...” Koutaku gestured to the wakizashi before him and its glowing aura, “...is just an application of it combined with basic chakra infusion. It’s not really…doing anything useful at the moment, but I figured I’d practice it because based on what I could find, Layering has an incredible array of useful applications once you can do it.”

With that, he shrugged slightly and slowly dismissed the chakra. Rather than fading all at once, layers of a wispy, ethereal substance almost like a ghostly mist drifted off his wakizashi in layers. It was like slow-moving cloth in a turbulent wind, or smoke perhaps. Eventually, the glow vanished entirely from both Koutaku’s implements and he was left with two normal weapons.

Taking another moment to center himself back in his body, Koutaku opened his eyes. “It also turns out that running my chakra through the weapons and tools I’ve yet to use in any significant is a sort of way of having my mind and body memorize them as an extension of my person, rather than clumsy additions. Might just be a quirk of mine though, not sure if it’d help anyone else.” Pushing to his feet and brushing off his clothes briefly as he sheathed his wakizashi properly and met Travin’s gaze.

“Glad you could make it by the way. It’d be a shame not to have been able to teach you the technique. Speaking of which, shall we get started?” At that, Koutaku grinned, his eyes glittering with mischief and undirected energy.

It was clear that he was more than a little excited to properly train with the jounin.

Spoiler:

Chuckling in response to Travin’s eagerness, Koutaku opened his hand, a shuriken suddenly appearing within it almost like a magic trick.

“Fair, fair. Granted, I have an instinctive knowledge of where all my tools and weapons are, but things I’ve not explicitly trained with tend to become easier to feel out once I’ve sat with them for a time.” He shrugged, then held up another hand and went through handseals at a normal pace, making it easy for one to follow. Dragon, and Serpent.

“At D-rank, Sokumen Henkō, or Aspect Alteration if you prefer, only requires two handseals. In appearance it’s a rather simple technique, allowing the user to rearrange and double the mass of any object they can maintain direct or indirect contact with. Below the surface though, well, it’s a bit more nuanced and complicated than that.”

Using what was becoming his favorite example, Koutaku allowed the technique to take hold of the shuriken, each of its four blades doubling in length, then narrowing till they were flat and almost needle-like in shape, Koutaku then allowed four more of the constructions to emerge from the altered shuriken, resulting in a total of eight blades.

“The key is visualizing both the end result and the method to get there. I should mention that the third reason I meditate with my weapons is to know their every aspect in and out. Shape, properties, material composition, exact weight, and of course, their mass. It makes using Sokumen Henkō considerably easier.” Grinning slightly, Koutaku pushed a small amount of additional chakra into the shuriken as he performed the Dragon handseal, causing the shuriken to change forms once more.

“Ah, the technique also allows you to alter the shape more than once depending on your level of mastery. At its highest level, you can affect 6 items with a single use and for each degree of mastery, you can alter its dimensions and shape an additional time. Koutaku, in a flash, affixed a wire to the altered shuriken, which had now become more of a chakram in appearance, though incredibly thin, with a wide opening in the middle. Then, without warning, he threw it to his right where it sliced clean through a stone protrusion.

He turned and met Travin’s eyes as he yanked the weapon back, altering its form as it returned such that it became a series of wide, trough-like spikes, that dug into the ground, gouging at it violently. After another moment it shrunk back to its original form, becoming a shuriken once more, which the young man swiftly caught between two fingers.

“Ah, it also amplifies the impact force of the altered object, which is honestly pretty useful on its own.” That said, Koutaku fell silent, that same fey light of amusement shining in his eyes. It was almost like he was lit from within. It was quite clear that he was passionate about this sort of thing.

Spoiler:

Grinning as Travin complimented his clan’s technique, Koutaku seemed at least a little self-satisfied as the jounin swiftly realized the usefulness of Sokumen Henkou and demonstrated such. The weapon that Travin spoke of also intrigued Koutaku--who couldn’t help but wonder if he could create something that better suited his needs, but mimicked the Sword’s specific properties. He kept those thoughts to himself though, at least for the moment, instead considering what else they ought to do.

As such, when his friend asked him just that, he had a response already prepared. “There are a bevy of techniques I’d be delighted to learn, if I’m being entirely honest. However, at my level, I processing so much already that I'll need time till I can properly learn much more,” he shrugged a bit. “More than anything else though, I think it’d be incredibly helpful if you gave me some combat experience. Perhaps in VR, though...maybe without genjutsu?” He said the last words hopefully, really not wanting to contend with the art for the moment, but rather desiring to hone his skills in other ways.

Spoiler:

Mid Thread Claims:

Letting out a sigh of relief, Koutaku bowed at the waist to show his gratitude, then--rising back to his normal height--Koutaku took a somewhat relaxed stance. Taking several deep breaths as he contemplated Travin’s words, Koutaku felt his mind crystallize in a way as his focus swept through his body and chakra network and became locked in place, after a fashion. Wetting his lips, the genin gave Travin an almost lazy smile--steel in his eyes--and replied with an odd sort of nonchalance.

“All out, I’d have it no other way.”

That said, Koutaku’s hands twitched, and a host of four shuriken seemed to just appear in each. That done, chakra surged forth through his body and Koutaku threw one shuriken, but not at Travin. Instead, it flew out and struck the control panel for the room, activating the VR scanner.

Immediately a light blue net of light moved down from the top of the room, scanning both of them and all their equipment--not to mention chakra and the like. Moments later there was a brief flash of light, a sensation like faint prickling static in the brain and on the skin, and then the training room was entirely replaced by one that was nearly identical, if somewhat larger.

It was roughly 60 x 60 meters, with its ceiling being roughly 40 meters above them. Physically, Koutaku had sat down as the scan went off, no need to get tired physically when using virtual reality for your training. He’d only taken a liking to it recently, but he was beginning to find it incredibly useful for a number of purposes.

“I figured this way you could cut loose without worry. I even set it so that when we leave the room, all data will be wiped. Wouldn’t want any secrets getting out after all.”

There was no smile on the young Iouchiryo’s face now as he paced from side to side, his gaze always on Travin, but not meeting his eyes. He knew the jounin wouldn’t use genjutsu, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t practice not looking directly into the eyes of enemy shinobi. His eight wirebound shuriken still drawn, Koutaku watched Travin with a sharp gaze. It was like he was a totally different person inhabiting the same body. From his demeanor alone it would be clear that the Iouchiryo clan trained their kin well--and likely from a very young age, something they likely had in common. Granted, the regimens of their clans were surely quite different from one another.

Seeming to finish taking his measure of Travin, Koutaku began performing handseals, so marking the beginning of their sparring match.

Spoiler:

Approved for mid thread claims