There is an area within Soragakure known for the only structure in it. There is a single, large, and white monolith that reaches very high into the sky. It is surrounded by a lake and forests, though nobody knows where it came from or what it is for.
Having roamed a reasonable distance from the abandoned city, Mantus walked at a easy-going pace through the forest within Soragakure. His destination entered his field of vision and Mantus could not help but to smirk at the monolith looming in the distance."If only I knew... Why I was drawn to you..."Against the setting sun, the structure seemed ghostly and yet beautiful as the light rays cascaded around it. The Aburame made no rush in getting to it. The closer he got, the faster the illusion of the ghostly tower faded, and it's great shade blocked the rapidly-vanishing sun from view. Many forms of life were drawn to the tower. Humans, plants, animals, even insects buzzed about the base of the building as Mantus drew closer. It was almost as if this monument was the metaphoric center of the forest, although not entirely geographically true."Well, here we are. The most solitary place I know of. Let's resume the training."Forming handsigns, Mantus built up his chakra and formed a cloud of bugs in front of him, letting them pour from the inner recesses of his body. The cloud moved directly in front of him, began to take shape, and eventually created a very familiar form."Insect Clone, complete."Mantus stared back at Mantus, his own, emotionless gaze a product of his skill. It was like looking into a mirror. The young man took a defensive stance, as did his clone. The two clashed, throwing a number of strikes and evading them well. There was more reason behind this form of training than as was obvious. With the surplus of bugs created, it was necessary for Mantus to wittle that number down drastically, or else it would be his chakra he'd have to relinquish. There was also the prospect of feeding on the insect population within this tiny area. As long as he didn't kill too many, the natural order would not be disturbed.
"That's enough, for now. I'll have to keep the rest of you for further training. Let's finish up here by feeding you."Instead of expending his chakra, Mantus would simply have the bugs feed on the chakra (and bodies) of the other bugs in the area. The clone broke down at his command in a tiny tidal wave that swarmed the area. It leaped great bounds as one, living unit, and dived upon small rodents, dragonflies, even eating the occasional garden snake. Mantus waited patiently for the excess kikaichū to feed, when a peculiar sight worked it's way to his feet."Hm?"A very large cockroach had brushed up against Mantus' big toe, and although frightened at the sudden sensation, relaxed when he noticed the slow-moving bug's gait. Kneeling down next to it and holding a solitary finger out, Mantus directed a single kikaichū from within his sleeve, and had it land on the cockroach's back. Only then did the lumbering dolt realize the danger he was in, and began to thrash around while the tiny beetle held on for dear life. Mantus watched with wide eyes as his beetle began to act strange. Instead of eating the roach's chakra and thereby weakening him, the kikaichū began to embed it's tiny legs through the hard shell of the roach's wings, and even further into the exoskeleton. All at once, the roach stopped it's squirming and stood deathly still."What in the world...?"
Within moments of the strange occurrence, Mantus felt a pulse emanating from the conjoined insects. Although both bugs were alive, they remained stationary, until Mantus held out his palm to the roach and commanded his kikaichū to dismount and come to him. Instead, the roach stepped onto Mantus' palm and moved no further."How... Is that even... Possible?"The pounding of Mantus' heart filled his ears, and even as he brought the combined insects to his face, the explanation of what had happened slowly began to work it's way into the young man's mind."Perhaps... The kikaichu dug it's way into the roach's tritocerebrum, controlling the nervous system... That's the only explanation... Or maybe, it was a form of adaptation... The host is just reluctantly obeying the commands of the parasite..."Ideas flooded Mantus' mind, and with each far-fetched thought that entered his head, it became increasingly important to study this phenomena again."I... I have to see this again."Whirling around, Mantus looked to see the rest of his beetles hovering in the air, waiting for his next command."You see this? Go. Do it again. Bring me as many species as you can find. We've work to do."All at once, the kikaichu shot off in different directions, searching for subjects to experiment on as the Host required. A feeling of excitement welled up in the young Aburame, and for the first time in his life, he was fully in control...
Technique • Insect Clone Rank: D Thousands of kikaichū are gathered in one place to take on the appearance of the user or anyone else the user wishes. The technique is elaborate enough to be mistaken for the original, and therefore may be used as a decoy or as part of a diversionary tactic. The clone falls apart into its component bugs when struck. Because it's made of bugs, it can reform almost instantly.
A week had since passed since Mantus discovered his new ability, and a full five days after that, here he was again, prepared to observe his ability in action once again. The monument had become a familiar sight, even moreso now than that decrepit, abandoned city he used to train in. Being here, near the birthplace of his incredible discovery, felt more like home now than his own bed did. Today, half a month after his find, Mantus was prepared to take his experimentation one step further. It was already proven to not work on anything other than insects, so Mantus didn't even attempt trying domesticated animals like cats or dogs. The tests with rodents were also inconclusive, so today Mantus decided on taking over a Wasp nest. Now it just so happened that there were two different species of wasp in Soragakure that were social, or that they worked as a Hive rather than lone wolves. It was in Mantus' plans to target one of the worker drones, assimilate him, and infiltrate the nest to see if it was noticeable to the other wasps within."Bingo."Mantus pulled his sunglasses down a hair as the familiar buzzing of a hive at work filled his ears. In order to not appear threatening, Mantus stripped down to the bare minimum, covered himself head to toe in mud, and remained at least 30 feet away from the large tree that housed the stationary nest. The Aburame let a single parasitic beetle fly from his grasp, as a worker drone passed by, carrying a lifeless Orb Weaver within it's talons.
"Go. Don't get caught."Flying as fast as it's little wings would carry it, the tiny beetle sped after the wasp. As if by some miracle, or perhaps the loud buzzing of it's own massive wings, the wasp didn't notice the approaching danger until it was too late. In three fluid motions, the kikaichu landed on top of the wasp's head, dug it's little legs in, and took the driver's seat."Wow. Amazing."The young man had to let a little sigh of relief out as he congratulated the little spy. With the two combined, Mantus telepathically directed the wasp towards the nest, still carrying the wasp's previous kill. The kikaichu-controlled wasp made it within the nest, and had only been inside for less than a minute when the normal buzz reached a new peak, sounding highly aggravated. Mantus had a good idea to what excited them. Within moments, the kikaichu came speeding out of the hive, a half-eaten wasp still attached at it's legs."Damn it. They recognized it as foreign..."If that had been the worst drawback of the experiment, that would have been just fine. But with the kikaichu fleeing from the amassing armada, Mantus now had an entire hive full of angry Pompilidae surging in massive arcs towards him."Yeah, this is a problem..."With this many wasps coming after him, Mantus was almost assured death if something was not done, and fast!
"Let's even the playing field."A lame one liner, but a necessary truth. Mantus released everything he had towards the spiraling cloud of red-colored wasps. The two species slammed into each other, twisted and writhed like a stormy sea. Tiny clicks of pain hit Mantus all over the body and he realized that he wasn't being stung, but was feeling his beetles die. The wasps size was great, but the kikaichu's numbers were greater. Eventually, the thrashing died down bit by bit, with a large number of wasp bodies littering the ground, and even more beetle bodies alongside them. What had started as a test broke out into full-fledged war that lasted a span of only five minutes. Mantus himself incurred a number of stings, but his remaining kikaichu were quickly working the venom out of his system. Had Mantus not had his assimilation ability, his body would be on the ground instead of the Pompilidae's...
"I was only able to save 13 drones and the Queen, huh? It's a start, but worth the danger?"Mantus let the question hang in the air, weighing what he learned and what he would continue to learn from this development."Definitely worth it. Once I build beetles' numbers back, I think I'm going fishing..."Ushering the captured Pompilidae drones back into the hive, Mantus let an extra beetle climb in after them to assimilate the Queen. Within the span of a week, Mantus would have bred enough wasps to get the colony back on it's feet. There would be twice as many kikaichu waiting to pilot them...
Shortly after the test with the Pompilidae, Mantus decided it would be best to incur more careful planning in case any future tests backfired... Or in the very least, went awry. The number of species under Mantus' control grew, and he soon found himself capable of not only being able to control their movements via his beetles, but found that after a few minutes, any insects that came into physical contact with his own flock succumbed to assimilation as well. This led Mantus to believe that what he had was not just an ability, but a mutated virus altogether. It appeared that the young man was Patient Zero, meaning he was the plague-starter. What did that even mean? His existence was a disease? It didn't feel like one, yet it operated like one within the insect community. Bugs not under his command fled, and when cornered, attacked violently until they too were absorbed into his swarm."How can this possibly be bad? I have a steadily growing legion under my wing. There has to be a reason for all this..."At random points during his day alone, he would voice his thoughts audibly. No one would be around to hear it, of course. There was a certain danger to the type of experimentation he was doing. If anyone within his own village found out, there would most definitely be serious repercussions. For the time being, he would keep it to himself...
***
"Wow. Back to full strength already? Incredible..."In under 36 hours, the 13 drones, the wasp queen, and a number of Mantus' own beetles had begun reproduction and construction on an enlarged hive in the same, secluded spot Mantus had located the wasps in before. A mixture of branches and twigs formed the base while thick clumps of mud and pine-straw helped to 'glue' the items together. As it appeared, Mantus now counted and confirmed 50+ new wasp offspring, each already under his control (whether by birth or instant assimilation immediately afterward, was yet to be determined). The insects worked fast, not even needing to rest. Mantus knew he could leave it the rest to them, so with his thoughts on a new experiment, Mantus took a small cluster of his own kikaichu and added them to the ongoing project...
"What is that... Smoke?"It had only been four minutes since the Aburame left his secret nest and approached the Monolith, only to discover a towering plume within the city beyond: His city. Taking a nervous step forward, Mantus placed his hand against the cool slab of stone that made up the building to his right."Something's happening... How... How can that be? The village is... We've never been attacked before..."Mantus silenced his tongue, for he could feel 3 chakra signatures in close proximity to his position. Friend or foe? No way to know for sure, not until they revealed themselves-"..!"Mantus quickly pulled off the pack slung around his shoulder, searching frantically for a certain item. Finding the container he sought, the young man spun the lid off and poured the contents into the neck of his shirt, then dropped the jar as the three forms made their appearance."Who are you?"A question that would most likely go unanswered, for three men that wore clothing to conceal their identity were equally unlikely to reveal it."Perhaps that doesn't matter... But I know you are not of my village. If that pillar of haze in the distance is your fault, I won't forgive you."No, they were definitely enemies, Mantus could feel their desire to end his life. He had to act now."I think forgiveness is a little too generous. It'll have to be the grave for you, I'm afraid. Besides, I have wanted to test the effects of my 'disease' on humans. Guess it's time to find out the truth."With a tone as cold as he could muster, Mantus threw his arms out to his sides and let the kikaichu pour from his clothing."Come! Be assimilated!"The parasitic beetles swarmed around his form, buzzing loudly, prepared for combat. The Aburame was ready to test his mettle.
"Advance. I need a test subject, and you three will do nicely."
Mantus Aburame
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A faint smile
Dedicated Friend
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Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:49 am
Mantus Aburame
{I'll be your opponent,sorry for the wait.} The three ninja looked at Mantus with a look of hatred and disgust. They spread out with 10 feet of distance in between them and began to form seals. The one in the middle was covered in a crap ton of slick looking armor, even up to his eyes. It was not oil nor water, but some sort of slime. The two on the outer ends weaved a series of incredibly fast seals and then held up their hands together.
"Fire Release: Wall of Death!" Wind Release: Augmenting Winds!"
Both of the techniques shot outward and met in the middle. The winds were blowing in one direction, carrying the fire around the area and closing them into the area. The fire had been buffed by the wind and the walls were too high for even a ninja to run and jump over. As the wall went up the ninja covered in the slime armor jumped straight to the wall, brandishing his blades. The armor protected him from the fire. He ran forward, tossing one of his swords in a straight line. His movements were odd, almost as he was made of blocks of wood or metal.
Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 5:28 am
Once you become a genin, you’ll be set. What a lie that was. Iki’s disappointed face lay pressed against a sleeping wolf’s side. With no place to live, he had made the forest surrounding the monolith his temporary home and had kind of become one with nature. Not that it was a strange place for him to begin with. He practically grew up in the forest. That being said, he really, really wanted a place in the city. Another wolf sleeping in the pile of bodies kicked Iki in the face as it rolled over. That satisfied mug probably meant it was having a great dream. Shortly after making a small camp near the main lake, he had run into a pack of wolves. With some careful training and a whole lot of dominance fights and pissing contests (not literally), he had become the alpha figure of their pack. Or maybe he had unknowingly domesticated them. Iki had been living here for three months, and he wasn’t sure. They came and left as they pleased, but they would fight with him when something else entered their ‘territory’. It was cute, he couldn’t deny that. But it wasn’t a family. It was just a mutual agreement of safety and survival. At least he had something warm to cuddle when he got cold.
Finally deciding to start his day, Iki detangled himself from the mess of bodies and went down to the lake to wash himself. Oh, it wasn’t as if he lived a life of poverty. The small jobs he did around the village allowed him the space to buy supplies and even weapons. He mostly caught his own food in order to keep up with the other expenses and save. It was just too much to pay for a home while not having any support. Coming straight out of the academy, he didn’t have the ‘training’ to go on serious missions. At least, not for his skill set. You had to be a chuunin before they would let you even think about killing someone. Iki kicked off his underwear and plunged into the chilly water. He wondered what it would be like, to hunt someone down. Was it like hunting the rabbits back home? Or in the shinobi world, was it more like hunting a wild boar or a bear, which just might end up hunting you. Or did it feel more like hunting a rabbit that would suddenly begin breathing fire and casting down lightning from the sky. He began to float on his back, his bangs blocking the morning sun from his eyes and he absentmindedly smiled at the imagery. Well, he’d find out eventually. For now, he needed to train up enough proficiency to remain the hunter and avoid becoming the hunted.
After thoroughly scrubbing himself clean, he kindled his camp fire and began to cook breakfast. This roused the wolves, which came to see if he’d be generous and give them a treat today. He had decided to avoid feeding them outright. They could hunt for their own food. “Would you guys feel anything if I just up and left you?” The wolves just stared back at him, some turning to start a hunt and others apparently content to listen to him ramble. Did wolves understand stuff like people did? He had seen animals trained, but was it the same as understanding. Looking at those lupine eyes, he wasn’t sure. One of them laid down and covered it’s muzzle as if ashamed. “Seriously, either way you’re probably just a bunch of punks.” He laughed and cleaned up breakfast. Climbing into his pants and tossing on his red jacket, Iki was ready to start his day.
DemonicShadowWolf
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DemonicShadowWolf
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Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 7:00 am
Iki tinkered with a crossbow beneath a large tree. The kind where the roots snaked above and below the ground, making all kinds of interesting places to relax. The question he had asked himself was a simple one. What do you want to do? What do you want to be known for? He didn’t want to make the same mistake he made back home. He didn’t want to be the one people isolated. He wanted to isolate himself. A lone role then. But he enjoyed watching people too much to go at it alone and missions were generally dictated in groups. So a supporting role then. As a graduation present, the academy had gotten him this cross bow. Iki was already a good shot. He knew how to kill from far away and yet could rumble with the best of the animals up close. An unseen force capable of providing support or working independently. An assassin. Coming to the conclusion, he had decided to put his natural talents toward the role. Satisfied with the adjustments he had made, he planted the crossbow into the ground and manually pulled the string back to c**k it. He planned on getting a crank to assist him on the field, but it wasn’t as if he had been a good enough student to warrant an outstanding present. Iki began his practice, aiming down field at a target. It was tedious practice, as he often had to run down to retrieve the bolts he fired, but he saw the improvement between his shots as the hours went by. When his arms finally couldn’t stand to keep drawing the string back, he decided to take a break and sat back under the tree to work on fletching the bolts. He noticed his shots didn’t fly stable through the air, and followed the instructions he had received during training. Using some feathers he had skinned from dinner the night before, he added them to the base of the bolts. After testing a few more shots, he felt satisfied with the improvement. He would need to visit a smith in order to tamper with the tips, but the basic ones seem to work well enough for now.
[Learned: Clockwork sniping: Crossbow, Bolts and arrows, Fletching]
Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2014 9:16 pm
Iki sat on a log by his campfire, meticulously cleaning his equipment. Every raised surface, every depression, was wiped clean of any dirt or residue. Even the crossbow bolts were checked for splinters and smoothed down. After leaving home on his own, Iki had quickly learned that carelessness was acceptable as a lifestyle as long as work was nothing short of professional. Putting away the tools of the soon to be trade, Iki stretched and let out a whoop of content. "Freedom!" he cried . Two of the wolves lounging near his tent looked at him with bored eyes. Nothing new happening here. Iki swung his head back and gave them a shrug. "Guard". He tossed them some treats and began his hike back to civilization. Things to do, people to see. Opportunities to capitalize on. He popped his jacket and began the light jog back.
DemonicShadowWolf
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DemonicShadowWolf
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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 8:20 am
~Iki Yabo~
Iki lay motionless upon the pile of straw that served as his bed. For the past month, he had been practicing sleeping without rolling around or scratching himself. After a week, he was finally waking up in the same position he went to sleep in. But he wasn’t convinced. Smearing his fingertips with a colorful paste that doubled as an irritant, he set out to sleep motionless through the night again. “I’m gonna do it. You know, just to see if it can be done. I’m sure it’ll like, save my life one day”. He explained to the wolves. They gave him the same crazy look his bukijutsu instructor did.
Progress was going pretty good. Besides the incident were a wolf tried to snuggle against him and got nicked when Iki reflexively went to scratch his head there had been no incidents. He finally stopped touching himself while he slept. Those two weeks had been killer on his sensitive bits. The poses he had molded his sleeping habit was just an extension of how he normally slept. Arms sprawled wide like he wanted to hug the world and arms crossed over his chest as if he holding a loved one. As time went on, he felt confident enough to test it live. Through the whole exercise, he had capped each claw so that he wouldn’t slice himself to ribbons. After testing it out live, it looked like his training had paid off. On the final day, he woke up and took up a victory pose against the sunrise. “Chyeaaa~"
Iki woke up and stretched, rolling over onto his stomach. Now that the unconscious part of the training was out of the way, Iki planned on wearing his claws for everything. Although he would eventually buy some retractable claws when some revenue started to come in, he knew he had to get used to how they extended from his hands to he didn’t hurt himself in battle. While some people might be content just using them during training, Iki wanted to push it further. It was the kind of thing that made a difference between a professional and the professional. Or maybe he was just deluded. He lifted himself off the ground and carefully undressed himself and began running for the lake. Well, whatever. The greats always had their delusions.
Iki dove into the lake, slicing into the water. He broke the surface and began floating on his back, looking up at the monolith per his usual morning routine. How to go about this. The first thing he had noticed was his claws weren’t as obstructive as he thought they’d be. If anything, they were a bigger danger to other people than himself. He began washing his chest and ran into a problem. Using two hands to scrub his chest down made the claws clash together. So, one handed scrubs. After going under the pits and through the legs, he had to open up and make more space, which was kind of difficult while treading water. As the days went on, it became easier and easier until one day he didn’t think about it anymore.
Iki put his outfit on and started cooking breakfast. Grabbing everything was a slight hassle, but the biggest problem he faced was the length of the claws. His hands had the same mobility but his wrists had to adapt to avoid bumping into stuff. He tried to shovel the food into his mouth, but his claws kept him from actually scooping up his food. Frustrated, he threw down his food and made his way to town.
-‘๑’-[Scorch Release]☯[Gennin Weapon Master]☯[Way of the Infernal Blade]-‘๑’-
❝The Heart of Fire Burns Bright.❞
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TABTAB Suki had one task given to her by her masters: develop her own variant of the Infernal Blade weapon style. She was to use the experiences from here on out to metamorph the techniques and stances taught to her already to create her own style of combat. It was no small task; it was expected to take a lifetime to do this. Her expression was as it always had been: nose pointed up, eyes that seemed to look through people and judge them at the same time, a sort of stubbornness that told the world she was right and everyone had better deal with it. Her two katanas were sheathed, one on her back and the other back-waist mounted. Have a sheath on either side of her hips restricted arm movement, which was not good for her as movement was her forte. She found a spot that was out of the way from those already training but was not so isolated to be not seen and sat with her legs folded beneath her. She unsheathed the waist-mounted katana and laid it horizontally before her, as was her normal custom before training or fighting. It brought her into a sort of meditative state that allowed her to calm her mind and plan out what was to come in the near future. Her samurai-ish, but then again Bushido traditions helped steady her being.
TABTAB After a moment or three of meditation, she noted commotion outside. She strapped both katana sheathes to her body in their normal positions and exited. She knew she was about to fight for her life.
