Day One

The stones crunched and groaned with every step, it seemed like it had been hours since he first set foot on this road, yet his legs did not weary, for he did not have time to feel tired. The ravine was in his sights at last. Stepping through the brush, he finally saw the location he had been looking for. The fissure ran deep through the earth, peaks of stone and sudden cliffs were everywhere. An old brook ran into the ravine, feeding a small river than ran through it's base. It was beautiful. Still, he didn't come here simply to sight see, even if it was majestic. Trilby still wore heavy bandages on his forearms from his recent injuries caused by his fight against Shibirin. It seemed as though the burns refused to heal for the time being. Still, the pain did not bother him much, and he was not about to let a few burns distract him from his training.

Pulling a scroll from one of the many pouches on his Flak Jacket, he unfurled it slowly. “How to perform Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu.” Trilby read aloud, a sound of excitement snaking it's way through his tone. It didn't take him long to finish the entry, and pressing his thumb into the seal at the bottom, the scroll burst into flames. It was not wise to keep such an easily steal-able record of a ninjutsu, after all. A powerful tool in any Doton user's arsenal, the technique detailed expelling stone from your mouth, which forms into a perfect physical duplicate of the user. “Right. Expelling stone from your mouth, that sounds fun.” Trilby muttered, forming a quick series of hand seals. Snake, Ox, Ram. He envisioned a rock slide, pouring out of his mouth, piling up in-front of him. Dry heaving, Trilby coughed up two shiny, perfectly flat stones. “I suppose it's a start” he muttered. Snake, Ox, Ram. A handful of stones. Snake, Ox, Ram. A few handfuls of stones. Snake, Ox, Ram. A bucketful of stones.

Trilby coughed, drinking deeply from his flask of water. Coughing up stones took it's toll on your throat. He paused. Imagining his chakra swirling around, fusing together into one large face of stone, and then crumbling into thousands of small pebbles. Snake, Ox, Ram. Trilby spewed forth a large mound of stones, big enough to make a duplicate of himself, with leftovers. He had mastered part one of this technique, but the rest would be a lot more complicated.

Having produced sufficient amounts of stone, the next step was to manipulate it on expulsion, forming the shape of a humanoid. This was the hard part. Creating some rocks was one thing, forming them into a moving, ass kicking incarnation of the sexiness that was himself was another thing entirely. Snake, Ox, Ram. The stones fell from his mouth, hovering in mid air briefly, swirling around in-front of him before dropping to the ground. Snake, Ox, Ram. The mass of stones formed a large sphere in-front of him, arms snaking their way out the sides, hands began to form before the mass collapsed again. Once more, arms, hands, fingers. Legs. Collapse. Trilby produced attempt after attempt for what seemed like hours. Eventually it was too much, his wound on his abdomen hurt like hell, his arms ached, his throat was on fire. The sun was setting in the distance. Trilby dropped his pack from his back and pulled out a small box of rations, devouring it rapidly before detaching the sleeping bag from his pack and rolling it out. A nice nap under the stars would regenerate his energy, and he could start again in the morning.

Word Count: 616

Day Two

Trilby arose to the first light of the morning. The air was cold, and the wind was bitter. Still, he felt good. His arms hurt less than normal and his throat felt better. It was time for him to continue his training. Leaping up, he looked around. Mounds of stone were scattered everywhere. The results of his previous day of experimentation. Snake, Ox, Ram. Arms, hands, legs, feet, a head. No resemblance to Trilby whatsoever, but it was a start. The figure held for a few seconds before crumbling. Snake, Ox, Ram. What appeared to be skin was forming around the figure once it had all limbs, but it still had no features whatsoever. Snake, Ox, Ram. Fingernails, hair, one eye, a mouth. The eye was the wrong colour, as was the hair. Short and blonde, as opposed to Trilby's long black hair. Still, progress was progress. This... thing, didn't crumble like the others, it looked around, stared at it's hands, and then looked at Trilby and said with exactly the same voice as he has said “I don't think you've got it quite yet mate.” before beginning to crumble.

Trilby spent the next few hours creating strange abomination after abomination. Each one began to look more and more similar to Trilby, eventually able to make physically identical copies, well, without clothes, but copies none the less. Every clone he made was slightly more stable, able to last longer before crumbling. Snake, Ox, Ram. He expelled a mound of stone, as usual, which quickly spiralled together, forming the shape of a humanoid. The stone quickly turned to flesh, long, black strands of hair shot out of it's skull, and feature's formed. Trilby stood face to face with himself. “Hello handsome” The two Trilby's said in unison, staring at each other. “Are you thinking what I'm thinking?” The clone said, smiling. “Test your limits” Trilby said in response, stepping back slightly. “Exactly.” the clone said, as they both began to form handseals.

Sharp spikes charged from the feet of both Trilbies, flying for the opponent's feet. They jumped aside in unison, charging each other. Trilby snapped off one of the many spikes as he charged his clone, who did not arm himself in a similar fashion. Trilby lunged the spear at the clone's heart, plunging it deeply before the clone's fist met his skull, sending him flying. Trilby sat up, staring at his clone, who was on his knees. “Good work” The clone said, the smile slowly melting off his face. The colour of stone began to bleed through the flesh, and the limbs began to crumble. The clone was finished. Trilby sighed with relief, gathering up his things and staring at the long, downhill path he originally climbed to reach the Ravine. Time to go home.

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