Day Nine
Daraku spent the whole night traversing the great desert that was Kaze no Kuni. He knew the land so well, having traveled through it so many times over the years, that he knew where everything was and he knew the fastest way to Suna while avoiding the dunes. The sun rose by 5 AM and the blazing heat set in fast, but he didn't let that slow him down at all. He was determined, and his eyes glowed a vibrant gold as they took in all of his surroundings. His compoudeyes had taken a while to get used to, but after a year of Senjutsu training, he had precise control of them and had adjusted to seeing
everything from every angle without putting much effort into it. After a few more kilometers of running, the dunes started to thin out and the village's walls came into view and he saw Bearclaw's men; they were moving in a big formation, almost marching, but still nearly a kilometer away from the village, meaning that Daraku would be able to kill them all before they could get there. He took a deep breath and let it out gently.
"Here it goes." he said to himself as he made a mad dash for Bearclaw. He didn't care about any of the other bandits, since they weren't a real threat and would be much easier to kill than Bearclaw would be. Nonetheless, the group saw him coming and started blasting Doton techniques at him, but using his senjutsu sensory, he anticipated their moves and dodged them accordingly. Once he was within 30 meters of the group, he diverted their attention and sprinted to the right. They had crowded around Bearclaw to protect him, but they couldn't keep up with Daraku's speed and he had a decent enough opening to hit Bearclaw with a ranged jutsu.
I'll end it with this. Let's see how many of them I can take out with this move. Daraku formed a string of hand seals, around 10, before ending it with a Tiger seal. His lungs flooded with chakra and it moved up through his windpipe and into his mouth. The gray flames built in his mouth until he was ready to release the jutsu. The name of the technique was determined, then and there:
"Fire Style: Embrace of the Phantom!" he chanted as the fire poured from his mouth. They danced above the sands, covering a fairly large area, but he could feel the weight of them all seeping away his chakra in order to continue burning. He maintained the continuous stream of flames as far as he could, and once they reached the bandits, the mayhem began. The flames moved through the crowd like a ghostly cloud, never stopping, slowing down, or causing them to combust. Rather, whenever the flames made contact, they began to sap the life energy from the target, creating the same autolysis and necrosis that Daraku had experimented with in his first use of the jutsu when the three bandits had found his camp. On a much larger scale, this jutsu was making Bearclaw's entire group drop like flies. They fell one by one as necrosis overwhelmed their hearts, livers, lungs, brains, or kidneys. It only took one vital organ failure to kill someone; Daraku knew that very well, having been a medical ninja for so long. This was by far his greatest offensive application to medical ninjutsu, and with such a range, it was probably one of the most lethal jutsu in existence.
Bearclaw, being at the very back of the group, watched his crewmates die and immediately jumped to avoid the stream of flames before it could reach him, since he saw what it was capable of. He landed 20 meters away from Daraku and purposefully kept his distance at first so that Daraku couldn't attack him with his swords. The anger and despair was visible on his face; watching all of his underlings die like that had set him off into a vicious rage.
"I'll END you, Suna-nin! I'll make you pay for all of this!" Daraku laughed off Bearclaw's threats.
"My name's Ishido, Daraku, by the way! Just FYI." It looked like it had triggered a physical shift, because although it was unclear at a distance, his body was changing rapidly. He had used some sort of jutsu, apparently, because Daraku noticed that he looked beastly; significantly taller, more muscular, and he had claws.
"Oh, is that why they call you Bearclaw? Well why don't you come over here and show me if those claws stand a chance against my swords?" Bearclaw weaved a few hand seals and his hair suddenly stood on end.
"Hair Needle Senbon!" The hairs started to shoot out extremely fast, dozens of needles headed for Daraku. He didn't have much time to react, so he threw his arms in front of him to protect his torso and his head. The needles stabbed into him and pierced deep, leaving him in pain and bleeding severely. Bearclaw took advantage of that opportunity and sprinted toward Daraku, claws raised. Daraku blocked his first blow using Nisebi and counterattacked, but Bearclaw jumped into the air and did a front flip, dragging his claws across Daraku's face on the way down.
"My hair senbon is coated with a special poison that increases the pain exponentially. Let's see how you can survive while you feel like you're already dying!"Bearclaw prepared to fire another barrage of hair senbon, but Daraku turned to him with a fiery look. Three large cuts spread from his cheek to his jaw from where the claws had caught him, and the wounds bleed profusely. He lifted a hand to his face and healed all three cuts right then, as if it were nothing. Bearclaw sneered and launched his jutsu, sending way more senbon than before this time, probably in the hundreds now. Daraku unsheathed both of his swords and deflected every last senbon, using his senjutsu sensory to determine their trajectories before they could strike him. He then threw Nisebi down into the sand and held out his left arm, forming an open hand. He wanted to try another jutsu that he had been practicing.
"Wind Style: Ultimatum of the Phantom!" he chanted as a powerful gust of wind carried a helpless Bearclaw to Daraku's hand. He struggled against the air currents, but they were so immense that they pulled him all the way into Daraku's open hand in less than a second.
"Y'know, you might've heard of me before, but with a different name. Some people call me...the Phantom of the Sand." Daraku gripped Bearclaw's neck in a merciless chokehold with his right hand and held his uchigatana in the other.
"And this is how it ends." he said calmly as he forced the blade through Bearclaw's chest, killing him. He pulled out his sword, wiped off the blood, and threw the corpse down onto the sand, next to the rest of the dead bandits. He
did need some kind of proof that Bearclaw was dead, so he went with the gorey route and severed the bandit leader's head, holding it by the hair before sheathing his weapon.
Daraku went back and picked up Nisebi, brushing the sand off of its shining edge and sheathing it again. Then, he released Sage Mode and sat down, taking a moment to rest.
"That tired me out more than I expected! But, I think that'll teach people not to mess with Sunagakure anymore, heh." He looked down at the bloodied, severed head in his hands and considered his actions for a moment. What if killing them wasn't the smartest idea? The village was in need of powerful shinobi, and if Daraku could have convinced Bearclaw and his men to join the forces of Sunagakure, the village would have been better off. Ultimately, he shrugged off the thought, deciding that Bearclaw couldn't have been reasoned with. But how would Daraku address the problem of Suna's weakness? It was too obvious not to acknowledge. Maybe he could make journeys to the smaller villages of Kaze no Kuni, like Sakyūgakure. They could be recruited to the ninja academy and Suna, and with enough training, go on to become Jounin and ANBU and other higher-ups that the village was in desperate need of. There was the problem of Daraku leaving though; that would leave the village to those shinobi who were in it now, doing their best to protect it despite their small numbers. Daraku, as a Sannin, was someone that they relied on for help as often as possible. Mulling over all these thoughts in his head worried him, because all he wanted for Suna was for everyone in it to be safe and for the village to go back to the way it used to be. With Suzume gone, everything had gone to shit and there wasn't much he could do about it on his own. He sighed, and eventually got to his feet. Nonetheless, this victory over Bearclaw was one mission complete, which was good for the village. He started to make the kilometer-long trek back to Suna in order to turn in the mission as a success. Above all else, he couldn't wait to get back home and sleep in his own bed.
[Exit, Thread Closed]
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Sage Mode continued (-10 chakra)
Name: Fire Release: The Phantom's Embrace
(火遁・幻の抱擁 ~ Katon: Maboroshi no Hōyō)
Canon/Custom: Custom
Rank: S
Type: Offensive
Element: Katon
Range: Variable
Specialty: Medical Ninjutsu
Duration: Instant
Cooldown: 5 posts
Description: One of Daraku's signature techniques. Daraku fills his lungs with Katon chakra, but does not build heat or create a conventional fire using it. Instead, he steadily applies medical chakra to the mass while he forms the appropriate hand signs to begin the jutsu. Once ready, he produces flames that are dull gray in color and lack high temperatures. They are not fueled by oxygen, but instead rely on Daraku's chakra as a base until they reach their intended target. Upon contact, they will drain the opponent on a molecular level by taking energy from within the opponent's cells and consuming it as fuel (this also means that the flames cannot spread like regular fire, since there is no combustion). The opponent's cells, as a result, will rapidly lose function until they undergo autolysis and die out, creating nearly instantaneous, widespread necrosis where it comes into contact rather than burns. There will be no burning sensation or even pain of any kind throughout the process. The necrosis cannot be healed by a medical ninjutsu below S-Rank, causes loss of function of the affected areas, and can even lead to death within 3 posts if a major organ (such as the heart, brain, lungs, kidneys, or liver) undergoes necrosis and is left untreated. Alternatively, the opponent may choose to amputate or remove the organ/body part for their own safety, if it is a reasonable option for treatment.
Shape transformation - This jutsu can take one of two shapes when Daraku releases the flames:
Javelin - A highly concentrated, cylindrical beam of chakra around one inch in diameter fired at full force from Daraku's mouth. It travels at approximately 70 m/s and is able to continue 90 meters before it dissipates. It forces its way through a small portion of the opponent's body when it hits, almost in a "piercing" manner but without the actually creating a hole. The beam will only create necrosis equal in size to the its circumference, but its speed and range also make it difficult for the target to avoid completely.
Flux - A stream of flames from Daraku's mouth that spread in a conical shape in front of him (more characteristic of a typical Katon technique than the Javelin form). It travels at 60 m/s and covers a maximum distance of 45 meters. The limited range makes it ineffective for long-range combat, however the stream often engulfs opponents at close-range and thus causes necrosis throughout the body, making it far more lethal.
Name: Wind Release: The Phantom's Ultimatum
(風遁・幻の最後通告 ~ Fūton: Maboroshi no Saigo Tsūkoku)
Canon/Custom: Custom
Rank: A
Type: Offensive
Element: Fūton
Range: 25 meter radius
Specialty: Ninjutsu
Duration: Instantaneous
Cooldown: 4 posts
Description: One of Daraku's signature techniques. By releasing a large portion of wind chakra, Daraku can create powerful air currents and use them to his advantage in combat. If Daraku activates this jutsu while anyone is present within range, it instantly pulls them toward him at 40 m/s. Oftentimes, this provides a perfect opportunity to strike a single opponent at close-range while they are being carried by the current (however, when Slaughter Stance is active at the same time, Daraku can strike up to three different opponents being carried toward him at once). The technique doesn't always work as planned, though; targets with strength or endurance or
speed and reaction time of A-2 Rank or higher are able to withstand the force of the current and avoid being moved entirely, but they will instead suffer multiple 2-inch lacerations across their body from acting against the motions of the volatile current.
** This technique is an exception to Slaughter Stance's restrictions, and it is treated as a Bukijutsu technique if used while Slaughter Stance is active.
- Mission/Training:
Thread total: 6,281 words.
A-Rank mission: 2,500 words
2,500/2,500 - Complete -
S-Rank jutsu training (Fire Release: The Phantom's Embrace): 2,500 words + 250 words (10% word count increase due to Ishido drawback)
2,750/2,750 - Complete -
Speed stat A-Rank to A-1
1,000/1,000 - Complete -
Leftover words: 31