Nozomi needed to train. There were so many people in Kumo that were simply stronger than her. Even with her speed increases from her weights, and her secret techniques, she wasn't good enough to beat Sanosuke alone, or Han, or Kenji. She might be close enough to do some serious damage or push them hard, but her sword skills weren't good enough that she could even use that to outmanuever her opponents. Her Taijutsu, perhaps, but that was because it was mastered for her. She didn't have long, but she had enough time that she could finish mastering her sword play, and finish training one of her most powerful techniques. She knew that she needed to train as quick as possible, and there was only one way for her to do so in such short an amount of time: Through the use of clone training.

There was an often overlooked fact that clones conveyed their knowledge back onto the original user of the technique, which was why it was fantastic for reconnaissance. However, that worked in Nozomi's favor, because she could train herself much quicker to master something if she had 2 or 3. And if she could have more than that, it would be even much better for her training. A lesser clone technique of course was the Water Clone variety, but that provided the most clones for her at the moment, and it wasn't like she needed them to be out very far away from her. In hindsight, she probably should have been using it a lot more than she had. Her clones hadn't been something she'd considered necessary in a while, despite her earlier usage of them. Perhaps that's why she had shot up in skill so quickly.

Either way, Nozomi made sure her perimeter was secure. She didn't want anybody to be watching her training at all, it was something personal to her. Beyond that, she'd be pushing herself to her limits in order to improve as quick as possible. She'd have time to rest on the trip to Kumo in a few days, but for now, she had far too much to do. Once she was certain that she was alone, Nozomi equipped herself with her Hunter-nin gear. This was what she was going to be fighting with, so she should have as much chance getting used to it as possible. She also had on her weights, as they should serve to further increase her skills towards where she needed them to be. With the training regimen Nozomi had set up, there was no reason she wouldn't be able to master her sword skills before they departed. If she had enough time, she honestly would have made an attempt to learn either an additional element, or another specialization, but that probably wasn't going to happen, so for now she'd focus on this.

Placing her mask over her face, Nozomi quickly ran the clone seal, using the water of the lake to form them with little effort. She didn't skimp on them, creating the full number of 6 clones, and pulled out her sword. Her clones mimicked her action, and all 7 of them circled in a ring. Almost in tandem, they all split off into random directions, and it was chaos in the circle, a cacophony of steel ringing out as they all went at each other. With such knowledge of how she fought, and with perfectly mimicked movements and speeds, Nozomi could last against her clones almost indefinitely, and that's exactly what she had been hoping for. Her pace was very even to start out with, as to go out without holding back would tire her out far too quickly, and she had no way to restore her own energy as it was, so burning out too quickly wouldn't be efficient for her training.

At the moment, her training wasn't focused on getting stronger, but instead perfecting her attack and defense of her swordplay. Because of that, she didn't need to worry about pushing her limits, but instead rather only focused on the technique. The parries, the counters, the defense, the offense. Everything she did was focused on making her attacks and defense into one, to perfecting her skill, and making it flow seamlessly. At least with a constant switching of opponents, it simulated the constant flow of open combat, which wasn't something that many people got experience with.

-

A day had passed by, Nozomi feeling most of her energy having left her body by this point. She'd been constantly fighting a refreshed batch of clones while rarely letting herself get any breaks. Not only was this to constantly combat opponents who had a full tank of stamina, but this was also to continually check her own progress by regaining all the experience that the clones had got. She'd pretty much got to the point where she was exactly where she wanted to be, but she still had some stamina in her tank, which wasn't enough to last very much longer, so she figured she'd finish off with this last bunch of clones in order to see how far she could push herself when almost on empty. At this point, she was maintaining her normal speeds on almost pure willpower alone, feeling her movements come more sluggishly each passing second.

A sword whizzed past Nozomi's cheek, barely missing the cut, and she backed up to gain some space, panting heavily. Her sword was fantastic because it was so aerodynamic that it was almost weightless to her. That was due in part to her natural strength because swords weren't really all that heavy anymore, but she was notably tired. Parrying another strike with effort, Nozomi put all she had into it and shoved back the clone that she was battling currently and collapsed to a knee in the process. Her arms felt like lead, and she couldn't hold out very much longer. Then the realization hit her that she still had her weights on. Nozomi dropped her sword for a moment and removed the clasps on her wrists and ankles, feeling the weights drop from her, and a sense of weightlessness crossed over her limbs.

That wasn't to say that she had all her energy back, she was still exhausted, but now she'd be able to utilize her full range of speed better, and that would give her the edge she needed to see if she'd learned about all she could of sword play for the moment. Now she had a speed advantage on her clones that would allow her to connect her strikes in any manner she wanted. Picking up her blade, Nozomi prepared to dismiss each clone as she went to attack them. She didn't actually want to destroy them, as she was going to need her chakra once the combat was over so she could fully train her Hasu no Bukijutsu technique, which luckily didn't require her to use much movement or stamina.

Almost as if on cue, the clones all stopped fighting each other and faced Nozomi, ready to face off against her. Even in a one on one scenario, Nozomi wasn't sure she could finish this off too quickly, she was tired, and there were six of them. Not to mention the fact that they all had her skill with weapons and her natural body mechanics. In a way, it was unfortunate, her clones had been the largest challenge she'd faced in a long while, not really having been pushed in any sort of way since her Chuunin Exams, even before then. Her training for the Chuunin Exams had been some of the most intense she'd ever had, because she had a lot of catching up to do. Since then, she'd been coasting her way through her shinobi career without a notable challenge against her. Fighting Maigo and Suutei had been fun enough, but even then it was hardly what she would consider difficult for her. Sparring against Gin hadn't been a challenge because there was absolutely no contest and there was no way to beat her at the level they were.

With that though, Nozomi launched forward, her new speeds outstripping what she'd been fighting at, and she was almost instantly back into the fray. Her sword whistled through the air, moving at a higher speed than it ever had, and handling beautifully. The clone that had almost struck her cheek disappeared in a splash of water as Nozomi dismissed it. There had been little chance for it to prepare for her sudden attack, but the others wouldn't be so easy for her to take on. Spurred on by the thought of the end of her grueling training, Nozomi renewed her assault and charged down the nearest of the clones, her katana whistling towards her neck at speeds Nozomi hadn't thought herself normally capable of. In a way, it was a surprise to her, the weight training had proven to be immensely effective, and she wished she'd thought of it earlier, but it was too little too late for that. It was proving its merit now, and she hadn't necessarily needed it before, so it was inconsequential.

She wasn't surprised to meet resistance with this one, a quick parry had knocked her sword to the side, and a counter attack had been launched in the manner of a thrust towards her sword shoulder. Nozomi seemed to flicker to the side, having side stepped with a little leap put into it, so fast was the speed she was moving at. She marvelled at it, never having seen from her own eyes what it was like to move quite so fast, only having seen people like Dameon on occasion demonstrating full speeds. She knew she was slower still, but that was fine by her. The clone, exposed as it was, was easily dispatched, its chakra also returning to Nozomi as she dismissed it rather than destroy it. She was feeling much better with some chakra in her system again, and the fatigue was starting to dissipate. Perhaps it was slightly true that she had underestimated herself, but that was better than overestimating what she was capable of.

After a few moments, Nozomi stood surrounded by puddles of water on all sides, grinning from ear to ear. The joys of moving at those speeds led her to understand why people were such speed demons. Not only that, but her muscles were pretty much screaming at her to stop by this point, but she'd reached the point where her mind had released a bunch of endorphins. She was running on what was referred to by some as a runner's high.

WC: 1777
TWC: 1777

She'd only allowed herself a little bit of rest. She didn't need a whole lot, as there was plenty of chakra left in her system. It was enough for her to perfect her new jutsu. She already had the basis for it down, it was a variation of her clan's strongest jutsu, but she was condensing the power to it even more so than it already was. It was a weird thing for her to attempt to do, as the basis of the jutsu was already overwhelmingly powerful, and the Petal Storm jutsu at its highest capacity could practically obliterate anything it hit in its path, but Nozomi wanted some refinement to the technique. And if she could train it by itself, and master it in its fullest, theoretically, she could utilize this in conjunction with other techniques, and that would make it more than worth it as it was.

The full theory of the technique was rather sounds enough, and should be able to be done. The Petal Storm technique was a mass of petals ejected by a Himitsu, sharpened to varying degrees depending on the level of control that the Himitsu in question was able to exert over their chakra, and as Himitsu were known for their high levels of chakra control, even the lesser shinobi of the clan had potential for dangerous jutsu. Nozomi had one of the highest levels of chakra control, and could exert her control of it even further outside of her body than most, which was why she specialized in Ninjutsu over her clans Taijutsu, where most of the Taijutsu specialists in the clan only had absolute control of their chakra while it remained inside them. Nozomi, having mastered both Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, as well as having already developed techniques based upon the design of other clan's jutsu, had a strict advantage as far as jutsu building went, as her chakra control was about as perfect as could be.

Utilizing the principals of the Petal Storm Technique, Nozomi's aim with the Hasu no Bukijutsu technique was to condense all of the petals produced by her jutsu into actual physical swords that she could control with a finer amount of precision than the mass of petals otherwise produced by her techniques. It created an interesting array of different possible skills that she could utilize in the middle of combat, especially if she was able to pair the technique with her Taijutsu or Bukijutsu skills, effectively allowing her to attack more times and from different angles than usually possible. If she was able to attack with 2 more swords, then she effectively could flank an opponent alone. 4 more swords? Only increased the potential. There was a story about one of the Jinchuuriki of Naruto's time being able to utilize 8 swords at a time, creating an unpredictable skill set and allowing him to best the prowess of the Sharingan's prediction. Nozomi's aim on this was to allow her to utilize upwards of 12 additional blades to full effect, with the addition of whatever she had on her person. If she was going to pour in just for straight offensive capability, she could perhaps maintain full power in a blade with 4 of them before it started to weaken slightly. But that was still 4, which was more than most could deal with. As a speed blitzer with her offensive capabilities, there were very few people that could contend with that many attacks from someone with Nozomi's speed abilities.

Nozomi allowed her mind to drift towards Kaekio, and a small grin flashed across her face. She was fairly certain that as far as things stood between the two of them, with her weights off and using her Dragon's Dance, Nozomi could overwhelm Kaekio's natural reflexes, and take the edge over her in a fight as it was. If she was able to perfect a technique like this, then she would have surpassed Kaekio completely. If it was back to the Chuunin Exams, the gap that would have existed would have been as large as a Genin trying to take on a Jounin in single combat. It may not have changed the outcome of the match, as Nozomi had lost it when she hugged Kaekio, and hadn't been able to mount a counter attack until she'd already lost too much for anything to matter, but at least now Nozomi was assured that any loss she had encountered before wouldn't be repeated in such a manner. Well, that depended on her ability to fully master this technique, which she still needed to do, but once it was done, then it wouldn't matter.

Raising her hands, and making sure once more that the area around her was secure and nobody was around, Nozomi took a deep breath to steady her concentration. Her hands started to glow with her chakra, and her eyes dimmed as her chakra drained from her system. Bright petals issued from her hands, and started to circle the air around the young girl, amassing into a giant storm of sharp blades, Nozomi exerting as much control over them as she could, honing their edges to their utmost. More and more, second by second, they amassed until there was nothing that could be seen of the girl from inside a cocoon of her blades. That part was easy for her to do, and came as almost second nature for her. She felt the drain of her chakra as the jutsu held, and the strain that her earlier training had done had certainly taken its toll on her. She was able to work with it, but she felt it more than she thought she would. Now the moment of truth, Nozomi needed to gather up all of the petals, the giant multitude of them into blades and condense them into normal sized weapons. This would be the hard part, she'd need to keep the petals together until she could bond the chakra inside each of them and they fused so she didn't have to concentrate on it so much, and that was the part she was trying to figure out.

WC: 1023
TWC: 2800

Everything Nozomi had was focused into moving her petals together into different points, which was more difficult than she'd imagined it would be. She was used to moving the mass of chakra in a single direction, and moving it around much like a simple river current. It was so difficult at first to separate that Nozomi started to sweat, her chakra draining at an enormous rate. She stopped in her endeavors and took a small breather, before redoubling her efforts. It shouldn't be too hard for her to do, considering that she could create multiple lightning javelins and other small objects. The only thing she was attempting to do right now was make multiple small pockets of her petals, but manipulating them in different directions was something she wasn't accustomed to just yet. It took her a while, but eventually she'd moved them into about 20 different floating orbs of petals.

From there, Nozomi started to slowly compress the orbs, feeling out the same motion in each orb, and replicating it. The process was kind of difficult, but it was less so than separating the petals had been. It didn't take her long until she had 20 approximations of swords made up, and they more or less looked like fake blades. The problem was there was too much for her to focus on for her to hold them all together in any strong bonds. Any movements of them almost instantly separated the petals from each other. They wouldn't hold up in a clash against anything really. The act was more physically demanding on her than it should have been, and Nozomi immediately quit trying, knowing it wouldn't be viable for her to train that sort of technique at the moment, and she'd master more eventually. Nozomi realized her mistake almost immediately though, and corrected for it.

She'd made far too many orbs and tried to control them all at one point in time, and that was wrong. She should have absolutely started out with a smaller number of them, mastering a smaller number of strong blades, before she separated them and made weaker but more numerous ones. Allowing the petals to free flow once more, Nozomi redoubled her efforts to make the orbs once again, but this time focused on only making 4 larger ones. It was in fact, much easier this time around, and she was met with only slight difficulty, as it was still controlling multiple paths rather than the one she was used to. Once they were made, Nozomi had absolutely no issues whatsoever forming them into blades, compressing the petals into a sword, and holding them there. In fact, the weapons became much easier for her to control in this manner than in orb form, as she no longer had to focus on holding them together. They had bonded the chakra of the individual petals, and made themselves individual blades. Like her petals though, Nozomi had full control over them and could move them through the air with ease. Bringing them over to her, Nozomi grabbed the hilt of one of the glowing swords and pulled it towards her to examine.

Looking at the blade, Nozomi was surprised at the quality of it. These blades sharpness rivaled that of the finest she'd ever seen. Even the Tanto and Katana she owned of the highest build didn't quite hold up in craftmanship, almost perfect as they were. And she could, through use of chakra, temporarily make these at any point she wished to. It was rather a prideful moment for her, having the ability to do such a thing.

The next task she had to do though was make more blades for her to control. The 4 she had were perfect in every regard, but her strategy depended fully on her ability to overwhelm any single opponent with more blades than they can possibly defend against. 4 seemed to be easy enough for her to make, so after a moment's focus, Nozomi broke up the bonds between the blades and moved the petals around into 8 orbs. It took a bit of concentration, but it wasn't nearly as hard as the 20 had been, and she was starting to get a handle on the feel it required. Once she'd collected the 8 floating orbs in front of her, she merged them into the same blade formation, and compressed them heavily, forcing them to bond and brought another of them towards her for inspection as she had previously.

This blade was, surprisingly, not much different than the weapons she mainly utilized, the highest quality ones she owned. Nozomi blinked in surprise and grinned. She could definitely do a lot with 8 weapons of this quality in addition to the ones she could hold in her hands. She'd definitely be able to control the highest quantity of blades, and was fine with that. That would be her thing, the Kunoichi with the finest blade control around. As a Himitsu, she had excellent chakra control, and this was enough of a divergence from her clan's own techniques that she could make her name much better than just a Himitsu. She was a master of Taijutsu as was her birthright, but she had made herself a master of Bukijutsu, something few in her clan ever tried. There was little reason for them to do so when their Taijutsu was more useful than most blades ever could be.

WC: 906
TWC: 3706

8 swords of the quality that Nozomi currently could utilize was plenty good enough for her, but for good measures, Nozomi wanted to make sure that she had the ability to control as many as possible for moments that she needed quantity over quality. She'd demonstrated that her ability to make 4 swords of exceptional quality was simple, and she could make 8 of superior build as well. Her attempt to control 20 of them had all but failed, so by the amount of control and quality it went down by, Nozomi wouldn't want more than 12 swords under her control before she started to suffer for the lack of quality. The next step down would probably be like her twin Tanto, and those were the weakest blades she would want to use in battle before a blade became mostly irrelevant in a high end fight.

Separating her blades once more, Nozomi redistributed the petals around and struggled to put them into the 12 orbs she wanted. It was by far the hardest that she'd tried to do since the 20 orbs, but seeing as she had been able to accomplish that before, it wasn't impossible for her. The main issue at the moment was that her chakra supplies were running dry, she could feel it. As her chakra drained, the stress from her illness started to take a hold on her more and more. It had been coming more apparent with time that her illness fed on chakra, which acted as a layer of defense, but as chakra thinned, it started to wear on her stamina. Hence when she over exerted herself in a fight and ran out of chakra, it would flare up more, even if she was winning steadily, rather than any other specific times when she wasn't fighting hard.

The orbs were tightened and compressed into blades as the previous time had been, but as Nozomi started to bond the chakra together, she felt a lancing pain through her body as her chakra started to run out, and collapsed to a knee. The bonding had been completed, so her weapons remained, but they clattered to the ground as she stopped controlling them. Reaching out, Nozomi picked up one of the fallen blades and examined it, relieved to find that it held into decent shape, about the same quality as she'd thought it would be. That was fantastic. With the completion of this technique, the only thing she'd have to work on was speed and control of the technique, but that would come with time. For now, she'd been able to accomplish what she wanted to do, and because of that, had increased her threat level immensely. She could confidently take on almost anyone in a bukijutsu match and at least hold her own.

Content with the way her training had gone, Nozomi released her control on the chakra, and the weapons returned to piles of petals, soon dispersing with a gust of wind. Eventually they fizzled out into nothingness, the chakra bonds unable to sustain themselves. Nozomi collapsed onto the ground and passed out, the strain of her practice besting her. It had been a long and time consuming struggle, but Nozomi had mastered the art of her weaponry, and was now a master Bukijutsu wielder. It hadn't been too much earlier that she'd started to learn from Sero, but now she was mostly on par with his weapon prowess in the categories she herself knew. Sure, she'd never fully surpass him in technical skill, but she could best him with her own brands of specialized combat, and that was something she'd be looking forward to trying. For now, she needed her rest, and the secluded area posed no threat to her. Nobody can out this way, she'd be safe until she woke up.

WC: 638
TWC: 4344

EXIT THREAD
close thread

Training:
Bukijutsu: used 1742 wc for A->S [9000/9000]
Hasu no Bukijutsu [S rank jutsu]: [2500/2500]

Remaining WC: 102