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Post 1
Taketori surveyed the riverbanks before him. It was muddy and relatively quiet, with enough space to avoid anyone else. He raised one hand and channeled Chakra into his fingertips, manipulating the bones. Launch! Teshi Sendan [ Ten Finger Drilling Bullets ]. Hardened bones launched out and dug into the river bank at the far side. He next regenerated the bones used for the technique instantly. A success, instantly mastered.


Post 2

Having finished learning one technique, Taketori moved on to the next. Focusing on his bones, he grew several bone spikes out of his body. Primarily focused on his palms, Taketori also included his elbows, shoulders, and kneecaps for secondary. This was the Yanagi no Mai [ Dance of the Willow ]. Taketori extended the spikes experimentally.

Post 3
The bone spikes responded accordingly to Taketori’s will, extending and contracting as desired. He shifted into a form and shadow-boxed an invisible enemy. Then, he began a series of acrobatic maneuvers, sweeps, and lunges. Bones extended and retracted from his body as he pretended to dodge and weave. He nodded satisfactorily and ended the technique, he understood it and how his chakra molded his bones.


Post 4
Next up, Taketori began to modify one of his upper arm bones. Reaching around to grab it, he pulled a bone shaped like a short sword and ending in a point. He gave it a few test swings first, getting a feel for the weight of it. No, this was too light. He tossed the first bone and then created another one, on the opposite arm, and made it a bit denser. Yes, this would do.


Post 5

With that, Taketori channeled more Chakra into his arms. He began to stab chaotically and continuously with the short sword he had created. At first the strikes were slow and predictable, then over time they got faster and faster as he found a rhythm and speed fit for the ability. The attack came from many angles and the speed was creating afterimages of both the sword and his own hand. Finishing up, Taketori slowed down and ended the ability. He was satisfied with it.


Post 5.5
(Accidentally deleted)
Finishing the basics of the previous dance, Taketori decided to move onto the next level of techniques: the Dance of the Larch. It involved popping bones out of own's body as a counterattack against melee attackers. He popped various bones out of all his body parts experimentally seeing which ones he liked most.

Post 6
Taketori then tried to punch himself and cause his own bones to come out in time to stop and counterattack. No good, it was too slow. He focused on his chakra control and manipulation to speed up the process. Then he threw in some handsign training, since he was already there anyways. The next time he threw a punch at himself, his hand was caught in some ribs that suddenly popped up and even drew his own blood. This would do him well.


Post 7
After mastering some of the basics of the Kaguya bone training, Taketori decided to tackle a big technique. Tessenka no Mai, a multi-part technique. He hadn't mastered his Curse Seal yet, though he would plan to at some point. Since he was using it normally though, he would use the C-Rank version of it to learn it first, even though it would be learned as a B-Rank. He meditated a little and practiced handsigns to further his chakra control and then, essentially limbering up, he began to pull out his own spine.



Post 8
Having pulled out his own spine, Taketori had completed phase 1 of the technique. The Vine. Taketori began swinging the vine around, testing its range. He found he could expand and contract it by manipulating the cartilage of his spine as he regrew a new one to replace it. The spinal protrusions were also emphasized and looked like they could hurt. Afterwards, to keep his chakra flow limber he practiced some more handsigns and manipulation.



Post 9

The point of the Vine was to control a target to prevent it from dodging the Flower. Since he was just practicing, Taketori cast aside his spine. Doing his usual Chakra meditation preparation, he then began to gather and hyper compress a large, impressive looking bone around his right hand. This bone was enhanced to a high degree and looked impressive in destructive power.



Post 10

Taketori picked a mound of dirt near the River Bank and charged at it with the Flower, a huge bone spike that had taken over his right hand. Upon impact, it imparted a huge amount of force. It remained unharmed itself and Taketori felt as though only the strongest blade techniques could pierce through it. He banged it on many things to test it out, including some steel pipe, and sure enough the Flower was no worse for wear. Disengaging the technique, he finished with a meditation session to relax and rejuvenate. Not only did he learn the Dance of the Clematis, he felt greater chakra control and stamina from the experience.



Post 11
The next technique Taketori decided to tackle from his bloodline was vastly different from the previous ones. Instead of Taijutsu, it was a Ninjutsu ability of all things. He was fantastic at learning Taijutsu but not as much at learning Ninjutsu. He sat down to meditate first and began to visualize how the technique would be used.


Post 12
He began visualizing a forest of bones sprout up around him. As he did so, the ground trembled a little as chakra, finely manipulated and controlled, entered into it to begin seeding the bones of his technique. It was a sort of trick for learning, similar to how one learned a bicycle by looking at where they wanted to go.


Post 13
Bones began sprouting up around Taketori now. He opened one of his eyes to observe. It was only a few dozen, nothing like the forest he had envisioned or had heard tales of. Well, he was still learning. Closing his eye, he continued focusing on propagating more and more bones around him... Yes, like a seedling fern sprouting upwards. Or a bag of beans.




Post 14
He continued the image of a forest of ferns growing in his mind as he meditated. After a certain amount of time, he felt a correlation between his high energy usage and the rate of sprouting. He ended the technique, meditated a little, then re-opened his eyes and stood up. He recast Sawarabi no Mai and watched as hundreds of bone spikes shot out of the ground, going up and down the river bank. He had not seen or detected anyone near him when he did this but he sure hoped no one got caught in it. It would be difficult to explain to the authorities.



Post 15

Taketori was feeling drained of his chakra. This would be his final meditation session for now as he felt the experience really enhanced his power. He moved through the bones further down the river bank, away from the city. Now he would fine tune the technique. Instead of summoning as many bones as he could, he began to focus on the theory behind them. Chakra causing sudden bone growth, which propagated even further on their own. It was commonplace for him to physically manipulate bones but definitely a different experience doing so with Chakra.



Post 16
Taketori touched one of the bone spars he had created. Closing his eyes again, he visualized himself moving through the bone spar. He felt a tug on his body and, accepting it, found himself traveling through the forest of bones he had created. He would eventually choose to end up on the other side and, upon coming out, collapsed on the ground from Chakra exhaustion. It hadn't used up every little bit but his training had certainly been rigorous. At least he had mastered this Kaguya Ninjutsu even when he doubted himself.


Post 17
After resting, Taketori decided to take it easy on learning jutsus. Instead, he would focus on a Taijutsu style he had encountered and grown enamored with. Standing up straight, he looked at a bone spar leftover from his technique and punched it.



Post 18
Taketori then began to charge up the Armor ability, Stimulating Armor. It was a training armor that was very basic but an important stepping stone. Chakra started gathering as it sputtered around him. But this wasn't enough.... To pump himself up, Taketori began to let out a shout, slowly building up as he tried to wrap his head around this technique.



Post 19
AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Taketori shouted to himself as he felt the fruit of his labor come to fruition. The armor of chakra around him sputtered into a full-blown aura. Taketori's grin like a skeleton as he learned the Stimulating Armor. It increased the power of his physical attacks slightly and he felt his body become tougher for having learned it. He gave a few experimental punches and found that he didn't feel exhaustion.



Post 20
Now that he was learning the Kaiser Fist techniques, Taketori actually looked at his bone forest in a new light. At first he thought it would be a bother but now he realized this was the perfect opportunity to combine training with clean-up. With his armor still active (5 posts total), he Kaiser Crowned one of the bone spars, causing it to violently crack at the point where his forehead met it. Surprisingly to him, he felt no recoil. The Armor technique was doing a good job reinforcing his body.



Post 21
After the Kaiser Crown, Taketori observed the damage of the impact. He then launched a sudden and swift straight punch at it, boosted by Chakra. He felt the speed of the punch increase dependent on the Chakra he as putting into it, though he did not put in a significant amount due to his already low chakra pool.



Post 22
The punch caused more cracks to appear and the bone spar began to collapse horizontal. Seeing another opportunity, Taketori launched what appeared to be a straight punch at it. But it was a feint! Midway through it, he raised his elbow instead and dropped 'bows on the bone pillar with a Crumbling Overhead. The force of this caused the bone pillar to completely shatter into small pieces, cleaning up one of far too many. Taketori felt the training pay off dividends as he felt his body toughen up.


Post 23
Satisfied with bringing down and completely shattering the first pillar, Taketori turned to another pillar and launched a sudden elbow at it. The elbow was the strongest portion of the human body and the impact, combined with the Stimulating Armor he had active, was enough to cause this next pillar to fall. This was a strong technique indeed, Taketori recognized. It would make simple work of a ninjutsu defense.


Post 24
Taketori was a man who did not do things halfway. As he had done with the previously fallen bone pillar, he would aim to shatter this one too. To make it more manageable to clean up and be swept away by the river. He raised one hand straight up and drove it done with incredible force and speed. Guillotine Drop! He could see that it would do serious damage to any physical defense.


Post 25
Taketori's Stimulating Armor fizzled out at this point. He decided then to take a small rest from breaking down his bone pillars and to instead focus more on theory behind Taijutsu. He was an instinctual fighter, one who would rather spend time reacting than thinking. He was going to push himself to find the right mix of power and balance. Throwing haymakers was definitely his style but if it left him wide open and unbalanced afterward it would only serve to increase risk.



Post 26
Taketori found himself naturally progressing with this theory-training. He honed his instincts with each punch to further reach the Ideal one. He had never played a game of baseball in his life but he was employing similar techniques just naturally picked up. The punches were turning into full body punches, hips turned and body tensed at the perfect time for maximum power without losing ones balance. Throwing dozens of strong punches at the air, he felt his muscles bulk up.

Post 27
Having finished training his punching form, Taketori returned to the pillar of bones. He decided to run a fun simulation in his head. He turned to face away from a bone pillar and pretended it was someone sneaking up on him. At the count of three, Taketori spun as quickly as he could and unleashed an Iron Backhand, Chakra startling his body into action. He could feel the chakra increase his speed by the same amount the Meaty Punch training made his techniques stronger and he ended up creating a large indent with cracks fracturing all over.

Post 28
Next up, Taketori backed off a little and then full-on charged at the pillar he had cracked. The indent caused by the Iron Backhand was perfect. It gave him a place to hook his Breaking Lariat into and, as he transitioned into the slam, completely smashed through the bone pillar like a dull knife through a frozen slice of bread.

Post 29
The next technique was going to be much harder. He backed further up the river bank away and picked out one. He began sprinting towards it and leaped off the ground, aiming a kick. Golem Missile, he had heard it called. Well he had over-estimated his dropkick range and simply ended up eating dirt as he dropped to the ground.

Post 30
Taketori got up and dusted himself off. He looked around to make sure no one had seen his failure, prideful eyes glaring. Only some construction workers carrying wooden beams were passing by and they quickly averted their gaze. Good. Honor maintained. He would try again, this time starting closer. This time he managed to leap and deliver the Golem Missile from 18 feet away, but there wasn't enough strength in it. He harmlessly bounced off the pillar.

Post 31
"Am I to be bested by my own bones? NAY." Taketori growled, pumping himself up as retook the position. Adrenaline and blood pumping, he began dashing and took another leap at the pillar. Full force, he was not going to let himself inhibit his power this time. He had hesitated due to the sheer distance he covered with the dropkick earlier. This time, on impact the pillar was knocked over and Taketori's dropkick ended with him standing horizontally on the felled bone. He roared in triumph and raised both arms.

Post 32
Taketori was feeling exhausted. He found a place in his bone forest to lie down and cast Tanukineiri no Jutsu on himself, instantly falling asleep to begin recovering his Chakra and Stamina. Every time he would wake up he would recast it until completely rejuvenated. During this time, some enterprising craftsman had begun to slowly dismantle and take over the bone pillars. After all, while it was bone it was amazing crafts material! Light and hard, these bones would end up in many tools, houses, huts, and souvenir shops.


Post 33
Taketori was feeling greatly rejuvenated and much stronger after an entire days worth of training he had started after leaving the Moderate Man Bar last night. Now it was midday and people had begun to notice the bone pillars. Well, no matter. He would continue training. Next on his list was the Invigorating Armor Technique, which built on the principles of the Stimulating Armor. He prepared himself.

Post 34
Energy continued to gather around him. He applied the principles of the Stimulating Armor technique first. He felt that aura flare to life around him. Now he would need to go beyond that. He was having some difficulty visualizing it as such, yet as Chakra flowed through and formed an aura around his body he felt a tingling in his lower back.

Post 35
Taketori focused in on that feeling in his lower spine. Now that he had a focal point it wasn't so bad. Yet there was still something missing... He decided to throw punches while powering up to see if it could trigger the transition from Stimulating to Invigorating. He began pounding on nearby bone structures furiously, feeling pain intermittently as the armor sometimes flared on and sometimes flared off.

Post 35
As he felt the pain flare on and off, Taketori felt a sudden breakthrough in his lower spine tingle. It crawled up his spine and felt as though it spread across his entire nervous system, jolting his body into action. The Invigorating Armor fully flared on and further empowered his punches, allowing him to make much quicker work of the structures around him. "Wow..." He panted after a while. "Unreal. My gosh."

"This is amazing! I FEEL INCREDIBLE! YES, YES, YES, YES! I CAN WIN, I CAN WIN! I. CAN. DO THIS!"


Post 36 - 42
Since he was doing so much training, Taketori decided it would be a good time to train his Cursed Seal as well. He knew it was a dangerous Seal that could easily end up with him dying. As aresult he did not want someone else nearby while it happened.

If he was going to die he might as well die alone and out of sight. Reaching inside him, he pulsed Chakra and activated the Cursed Seal of Earth, lines sprouting out from the simple triskelion. The marks glowed red and spread out, covering his body as he felt the Seal's chakra energy flow through him.

The lines started going out of control. Taketori began focusing on his breathing and his chakra, trying to recover. He quickly forced it into deactivation, panting a bit.

There was a terrifying force behind the Cursed Seal. The applier, that Miyamoto Mamoru at the hospital, was someone to be reckoned with. He did not understand the process of the application but that man had managed to insert a powerful chakra signal into Taketori.

Yet, something still called to him about it. When he activated it, he felt resonance deep within his body. Preparing yet again, Taketori was more careful this time with his chakra management.

He coralled the energy. Rather than the wildly chaotic spread earlier, it was neater now. The clean lines spreading from the mark spread throughout his body. As it finished spreading, the red glow subsided into black, like a tattoo across his body. He had mastered Awoken Stage 1.

Afterwards, Taketori find a place to sleep and regain the lost Chakra and Stamina before he would return to seek out Atsuko. It would have been nearly a full day since they first met yesterday.

Nigirikobushi no Shintou
Impact of the Clenched Fist
--- 5 post reduction normally. Additional post reduction from Hard Physical Locked Formless (B-Rank) for all techniques. Atsuko is teaching for a total of 7-post reduced. Everything is learnable up to and including Stage Four (B) in one post for Taketori.

Taketori started with the baic training for Nigirkobushi no Shintou.
He picked one of his bone pillars and began pounding away at it.
Analyzing the feedback he received as he focused on how his punches felt, he became skilled at recognizing how to deal with recoil.
Learned: Shindoutaisei [ Impact Resistance ]
Rank: E :: Training
-5 Sta ||| Total: -5 Sta

He applied an excellent form before his next strike as he hit his normally hardened bones with a Sokyaku Ouda.
Taketori was surprised at the result. The usage and technique actually made it feel as thouh the bone pillar was made of normal bone.
He filed this technique away in his mind, it would devastate a careless Kaguya.
Sokyaku Ouda [ Rejection Strike ]
Rank: X :: Simple
-5 Sta ||| Total: -10 Sta
Stage One clear: +1 STR

Next up he tried out the Hanchou [ Recoil ] technique. With Atsuko's permission, Taketori prepared to attack him.
He struck Atsuko, sending him flying back two meters with the hit. The technique would be disruptive for any defense against it.
Hanchou [ Recoil ]
Rank: X :: Simple
-10 Sta ||| Total: -20 Sta

Afterwards, he took another swing at Atsuko. When the man dodged out of the way, Taketori began to spin to redirect the force of his blow.
He chose a nearby pillar and hit it quickly by pivoting to it, preserving the force of the blow and even increasing the speed he hit it.
Jiten Atemi [ Spinning Blow ]
Rank: X :: Simple
-10 Sta ||| Total: -30 Sta
Stage Two clear: +1 STR

Taketori began to focus and meditate. He cleared his Chakra pathways and opened up his awareness to the world around him.
He became innately aware that Atsuko was observing him. He walked one meter away and lost the feeling.
He walked back in range and regained it. Weird.
Shouten [ Focal Point ]
Rank: C :: Training
-20 Sta ||| Total: -50 Sta

Taketori then walked up and touched Atsuko, injecting him with some of his Chakra.
This would help some of his other techniques, though it would not give him any locational information.
It seemed like an odd technique to Taketori but was an important step to learn for future lessons.
Hyouji [ Marking ]
Rank: X :: Spiritual
-20 Cha ||| Total: -50 Sta, -20 Cha

To test out whether the Marking was successful, Atsuko Body Flickered away as Taketori began an attack.
He activated the Drift and found himself automatically brought to Atsuko's location within the same range he was previously.
It was instinctual and a great way to stay on top of an enemy.
Hyouryuu [ Drift ]
Rank: X :: Complex
-10 Sta, -10 Cha ||| Total: -60 Sta, -30 Cha

Taketori hit the ground, causing fissures to appear in a 2 meter radius of imact.
The fissures were large. He repeated it on the bone spars, creating holes within half a meter of impact.
It could be useful for creating holes in an armored defense.
Hibiware [ Fissure ]
Rank: X :: Simple
-20 Sta ||| Total: -80 Sta, -30 Cha
Stage Three clear: +1 STR

Taketori the practiced a series of three sharp blows on a pillar.
Should they all land against an unarmored opponent, they would seriously hamper that opponent's stamina recovery until they were treated.
This would be an inconvenience to anyone who walked away from a fight with Taketori.

Taketori considered its uses. It would be a pain for after the fight, true, but it would also discourage a cowardly opponent from running away to recover.
Even if they did, Taketori would out-recover his stamina over theirs.
He practiced it again on the pillar, knowing full well it'd be too dangerous to practice on another person.
Renzoku Mouda [ Repeated Heavy Blows ]
Rank: X :: Complex
(-20 Sta, -20 Cha) x2 posts ||| Total: -120 Sta, -70 Cha

Taketori infused a punch with Chakra and practiced it on a pillar. The pillars were actually fantastic training props that he appreciated more and more.
The punch would knock the chakra out of a prepared technique from an opponent.
He was not sure the full uses of that but it would probably come in handy.

Atsuko informed Taketori that combining it with Marking would further enhance its power.
Taketori did some theorycrafting and could see that it would indeed make it more difficult for an opponent to cast Ninjutsu and Genjutsu when dealing with this punch.
Unfortunately the interrupting Chakra would not penetrate through medium or heavy armor.
Kenka no Mouda [ Heavy Blows of the Brawl ]
Rank: X :: Complex
(-20 Sta, -20 Cha) x2 posts ||| Total: -160 Sta, -110 Cha
Stage Four clear: +1 STR, total of +4

Having completed his physical training, Taketori moved onto the Ninjutsu training he always struggled with. Luckily Atsuko's presence afforded him much reassurance and help. After all, these were all techniques Atsuko knew.

First he tried to learn the Hi Shinten no Jutsu. The technique would allow flames to spread on his hands to any object they may be holding.
The object could not be too big or it would not work.
Taketori pulled out an appropriately sized forearm bone to try it out on.

Flames spread to the bone as he gave it some test swings.
It seemed as though the flames would last a decent amount of time, amplifying the power of his swing.
The fire damage on top of his other technique's would serve to enhance his ability. He wondered if he could spread it to his bloodline techniques like Yanagi no Mai.
Hi Shinten no Jutsu [ Flame Spread Technique ]
Rank: D
(-10 Cha) x2 ||| Total: -160 Sta, -130 Cha

Then Taketori sought to attempt the Katon: Shunshin no Jutsu.
He had never performed a normal element-less Shunshin before.
However, he had seen Atsuko perform it earlier when testing out the Drift and the way his body instantly reacted he knew it would not be difficult to do.

He looked towards Atsuko for guidance on this.
As Taketori disappeared, he left behind a burst of flame in his wake.
He wondered if the flame would be useful or if it was merely a visual affection of the technique.
Well he hoped he would only need to use this to close the gap offensively, he did not feel like he could use it more than,let's arbitrarily say, three times in a fight.
Katon: Shunshin no Jutsu [ Fire Release: Instant Movement Technique ]
Rank: D
(-10 Cha) x2 ||| Total: -160 Sta, -150 Cha

The Astral Projection skill was going to much harder for Taketori to learn than the previous technique.
As much as he could theorycraft, this was truly an abstract ability.
A way to project one's body elsewhere... Was it truly accomplish-able? He began the appropriate hand signs and channeling the chakra to try.

Taketori found himself astral projecting a few meters away but also found it difficult to maintain concentration.
The projection wavered and sputtered around, requiring Taketori expend more effort just to maintain it.
As it almost sputtered away, Atsuko began actively coaching him through the jutsu.

With Atsuko's guidance, Taketori managed to hold down the technique. Now with it learned, Atsuko talked to the astrally projected Taketori instead of the physical one.
He slowly weaned himself off the concentration requirement until it was no longer a burden to maintain the technique.
It felt good to master something this theoretical and it would be useful for later.
Kozumikku Jigyou no Jutsu [ Astral Projection Skill ]
Rank: C
(-20 Cha) x3 ||| Total: -160 Sta, -210 Cha

Chakra: 147/357
Stamina: 287/447