The Rustle of Leaves... (TTP training)

[Hado Tachimoto]

A gentle heat beat down on the whole of Rukongai. Summer was blooming in earnest, and the easy breeze did little to alleviate the heat. Hado had chosen a simple clearing among one of the unsettled regions of Soul Society; he had grown rather familiar of this modest area over the years. It was here, that he first initiated into the school of Hohō, where the foundations of his flash step were first lain. Now, with the Academy behind him, this quiet haven would serve as his private training grounds. In this very location, Hado would continue constructing the temple who's foundation was so carefully built.

The idea was simple; get from one end of the clearing to the other in as few steps as possible. The challenge here lay in the very nature of the flash step. Very careful control of one's Reiryoku was needed, too much and you could go tumbling into a tree, too little and you simply wouldn't be fast enough. While Hado had, at best, a rudimentary understanding of how to use Shunpo, it lacked the elegance and grace necessary to be truly useful in actual combat. The forest clearing measured an approximate 25 meters in diameter, and for someone faster than Hado, it would have proven little to no challenge for them to cross. Such made little difference, and with such thoughts summarily quest aside, the young man began to pour his Reiryoku into his legs. The potent energy surged through his muscles, and suddenly, he was gone. 

He appeared a moment later, stopping awkwardly with one leg still in the air. In a reflexive twist of his body, his offending leg was brought back onto firm ground, halting him from face-planting. He had managed to jump a full fifteen meters, not his goal, but he hadn't expected anything better given his limited knowledge of Shunpo. He allowed his familiar Reiryoku to saturate his legs once more, jumping back to his starting location. A similar picture to the first presented itself, with Hado having to awkwardly prevent his own fall. This event aggravated him, and it was quickly decided that this would be the first discrepancy to be fixed. He continued to Shunpo to and fro at his highest speed, allowing himself mere moments of rest and balancing before jumping again. This process was arduously repeated until he could move without stumble, until, when his flash step was over, he would be standing perfectly upright. 

A short huff escaped his lips, and beads of sweat were beginning to form on the Shinigami's brow. High frequency flash steps wasn't easy, even for masters of the art. He once again reset his position, stopping confidently at one end of the clearing. Hado allowed himself a momentary breather, and nodded to himself in satisfaction. The first of his problems was corrected, but now his secondary goal lay in front of him. The other side of the clearing still remained out of his reach, and that would never do. After a sharp inhale of breath, he was gone once more, only to end up a mere few inches farther than his last best attempt. He sighed in annoyance, this was probably going to take a while. More Reiryoku flowed into his exhausted calves, and he concentrated on the sensation. He carefully felt the energy, how it hardened his muscles to the strength of stone, how it made him feel like he could leap canyons. 

Yet, the more he probed, the more he could feel the inequality of his power. The force was not distributed evenly throughout his legs, and it was causing his being to reject him more readily than it should. A mental image of a baker carefully kneading the dough filled his imagination, and he took this metaphor to heart. With the precise and careful hands of a chef, he coaxed his Reiryoku into the proper form. The unruly knots were unmade, and the clumps were spread evenly throughout his legs. His azure hues fluttered open, and he flew forth... His hands flew outward to catch the tree that had suddenly appeared in front of him; he had done it! Admittedly he hadn't expected that method to work as well as it did, but hey, who was he to argue with results?

There remained a single detail with which he was unsatisfied. Looking back, he realized with a certain degree of shame, that the distance between his steps looked almost microscopic. This, along with refining his method of empowering his legs, would HAVE to be remedied. He prepared himself again, and this time he urged his legs to take farther strides. If said limbs could protest, they would PROBABLY be yelling angrily, screaming something about how they were dying or something ridiculous. Truthfully, if it weren't for a Shinigami's inhuman endurance, his muscles probably would have disintegrated by now. The hours passed, and by the end of it all, Hado lay in the middle of the clearing, his lungs struggling to keep up with the dizzying amount of oxygen that his body was demanding. Sweat seemed to flow from him in torrents, and one with any degree of energy sensory would feel just how well and truly exhausted he was. Yet, a large grin remained plastered on the exhausted man's visage... He had done it, he had mastered Shunpo.

 

[Deleted]

+30 TTP

[Hado Tachimoto]

An entire day passed before Hado's next visit. It had taken him AT LEAST that long to recover his depleted Reiatsu, and giving his body the rest that it so ruthlessly demanded was probably a good idea. Still, he wasn't entirely satisfied with his current level of knowledge, but while yesterday's focus was Hohō, today would be Kido, the Demon Arts. Hado had retained a frustratingly small number of knowledge from his time at the Academy, the entire experience was just SO damn uneventful that he could hardly remember what those teacher's actually babbled on about. He had graduated with few honors, and had faded completely into anonymity, this was fine, he had no particular desire to be well-known. Now that he was free of the mind-numbing over simplification that the instructor's forced onto them, he would be able to grow stronger.

-Flashback- 

A blank face continued its monotonous babble as Hado feigned attention. Such was his daily routine during his Academy years, but suddenly, words actually broke him from his twilight zone. "Hado." The young Shinigami gazed forward inquisitively; was his guise inadequate? This particular professor had never called on his to answer a question in the past, what made today different? He quickly snapped to attention, and focused his gaze carefully on his teacher.

"Yes Sensei?"

The entire class snickered, and the nameless, faceless professor couldn't help but smile as well. Truth be told, the man was looking forward to the day where his student's name would cause confusion. 

"No, not you. The demon arts, today we'll be covering the first of the offensive arts, starting with Hado # 4, Byakurai."

-End Flashback-

A thin smirk appeared on Hado's face in remembrance of the pun. There was definitely a lot of ribbing to be had with such a name, but it was all in good humor, and it WAS pretty funny. Still, today was Tuesday, not punday. His training would consist of two parts, A: mastering usage of the spell with the incantation, and B: using it without. With his middle and index finger pointed forward, he began to condense his Reiatsu. "Arise god of thunder!" Already, Hado could feel the energy crackling in his extended digits. Awake mother of storms! His eyes widened slightly at how easily his Reiatsu was condensing; it felt good.  Unleash the lighting on the sinners!" With the final words spoken, a bolt of lightning shot from his fingers and slammed into a tree on the far edge of his favored clearing. The condensed bolt of energy shot clean through the sturdy wood, leaving Hado with a rather satisfied grin on his face. That had gone MUCH easier than expected, but maybe using the technique without the incantation would prove more difficult?

He kept his fingers extended, and manually forced his Reiryoku to condense into his extended digits. This time, his Reiryoku did not comply quite as easily, but he could still manage. For now, however, this building energy had no purpose.. "Hado #4, Byakurai!" Once more the lightning shot from his fingertips, and yet another tree did it pierce. However, it did not go unnoticed that this blast of energy was somewhat weaker than the first, it was a worthwhile sacrifice to pay. It was in that moment that a thought occurred to him, if the Kido could be used by commanding it aloud, why could it not be spoken mentally? Surely his own being would know his purpose... The earlier process was repeated, the only edit being the mental incantation of 'Hado #4, Byakurai!"Sure enough, the bolt shot forth once more. Hado gazed quietly at his hand, that should have been more difficult... Perhaps that Shunpo training had other, unforeseen benefits?

[Deleted]

+20 more TTP

[Hado Tachimoto]

So far, Hado's training had been proceeding amazingly... In a matter of two short days, he had felt comfortable enough to call himself a master of both Shunpo and Hado #4, Byakurai. Sure, there were probably a multitude of individuals in Soul Society who could also boast that title, but he liked to think that the time it took him to achieve mastery was shorter than most. His flash step had quickly transcended the rough patchwork that he had been taught at the Academy, and now he moved with elegance and grace. Even his Byakurai was impressive; it packed the force of his rather powerful Reiryoku, and had the concentration and efficiency of perfect usage.

While he had already discovered the absolute perfect training location, what remained was determining WHAT he wanted to learn next. So, like a good little Shinigami, he had frequented one the library located in Sereitei. There were quite a few books that detailed various Kido and other ways to manipulate one's own Reiryoku, as such, it was an easy matter to acquire a copy. He had simply walked in, sorted through a small collection of apt sounding titles, checked out the tomes and left the stuffy building. Now, he was on his merry way back to his little slice of paradise, book cracked open and azure hues quickly absorbing the contents. By sheer happenstance, the first spec of knowledge he had come across was titled General Reiryoku Usage. It described techniques and methods that anyone with even the smallest shred of Reiryoku could perform... Most did not interest the young Shinigami, but he figured the simplest of abilities merited learning.

The Reiatsu orb... Never had a technique been so aptly named, as, quite literally, the only thing you were required to do was make a small orb of Reiatsu. Reiryoku flowed into his fingertips and he commanded the energy to coalesce into a small ball. At first, it felt as though his energy were just seeping through the cracks between his fingers... as though his Reiryoku was completely refusing his command to become a sphere! However, soon, the smallest of balls formed, and using that ball as an anchor, the rest of his energy flooded into the small creation. It expanded outwards and became the size of his hand; creating a dull glow that was the same bluish shade as his own Reiatsu. He nodded briefly to himself, acknowledging his first meager attempt at this technique.

Although Hado had achieved this technique at its most basic, he was certainly not satisfied. If he ever hoped to use this method in a stressful situation, such a slow manifestation would surely lead to ruin. As such, he applied his previous experience with the technique to a 2nd attempt; using a modicum of his own Reiryoku as an anchor for the rest of the creation to take shape. Sure enough, the idea worked like a charm, and the expected blue ball once again shimmered dimly in the sunlight. The Reiryoku creation was summarily dismissed, and he allowed himself to repeat the technique a further few times before he felt comfortable with the result. The end result? Another technique learned, not bad for about thirty minutes of effort. 

[Deleted]

+20 TP

[Hado Tachimoto]

The tome of general knowledge was soon discarded; there wasn't much remaining in the book that had caught Hado's interest... Perhaps one or two techniques, but he would pursue them at a later date, for now... He had other priorities. The other branches of Kido were just as, if not more important than the general applications of Reiryoku. While some Shinigami chose to outright ignore branching into the demon arts, Hado was much more open minded. After perusing a small fraction of the knowledge located in the Gotei 13's library, he had decided that learning a part of each branch would be a necessity. The young Shinigami already felt fit to call himself a master of at least a single technique in the offensive demon arts, but he would definitely need to expand his repertoire.

There existed a Hado that was considered even more rudimentary than Byakurai; an ability that many Shinigami unwisely considered useless. These individuals had no imagination; the sheer magnitude of applications for this technique was staggering, some were incredible supplements to already existing tactics, while others boasted amazing utility all on their own. This Hado was none other than Hado #1, Sho. The premise behind this technique was simple, it used ones Reiryoku to create a small, localized blast of air. It was a very simple, efficient and different usage of one's energy. As such, it was normally taught during one's time at the Shinigami Academy. However, as previously noted, that period of Hado's Shinigami training had been extraordinarily tedious and uneventful.

Now, normally he would begin by hypothesizing methods for performing this technique, however... Simply by speaking the incantation and providing the Reiryoku, the most basic of Kido usually worked. From there, it was the Shinigami's task to further refine and exact this process, achieving true mastery with their chosen ability. He extended his mental fingers, grasping at the fine tendrils of his energy and drawing them into the palm of his hand. His lips parted, and the expected incantation sang out. Sure enough, a small, concentrated burst of air sprang forth from his hand. It was raw, unfocused, and not very clean... But Hado had not yet grown accustomed to his strength, and was summarily knocked onto his arse. Thankfully, he was in a secluded wood, and no one was around to witness his antics.

He rose to his feet and simply repeated the previous process, this time bracing himself for the expected rush of air. This time, he did not budge, but the result still wasn't pretty. He stood in silence, pondering the dilemma that was this most simple of techniques. He recalled witnessing the other ghosts from his days at the Academy; most of their attempts did not appear any more refined or complete than his own, but there among the average there were always standouts. While some utterly failed to make ANY progress towards the Hado, some had achieved mastery in a matter of minutes. With 3 simple words, they were able to send a pulse of air strong enough to move a boulder; while others could scarcely manage a few loose pebbles... Perhaps it was a difference in frame of mind?

The basis of this technique was a pulse of "wind"; so what were the properties of air? One could seldom feel its weight, yet it could level even the strongest of buildings... Humans required it to live, yet it could be sharpened to tear them limb from limb. It was extremely difficult to trap; one could not hope to encase it in the palm of their hands... There was the epiphany; he was attempting to draw his Reiryoku into his palm, trap it there, and THEN release it. Perhaps, for this technique, he would need to imagine his own energy has caged wind. Poking at every possible crevice, clawing tooth and nail for escape from its prison. That was what he did; he allowed his Reiryoku to bubble below the surface of his hand, clawing, desperate for escape. The necessary incantation was once again spoken, and his Reiryoku was released...

A burst of wind, at least typhoon level in strength, exploded from the palm of his hand. A single tree, tall and sturdy from upwards of a century of growth; was ruthlessly arced by the force of the wind. His eyes ventured downwards, and he noticed faint skid marks upon the Earth. Despite his brace, and despite the fact that the technique was deliberately designed to exert the vast majority of its force outwards, the Shinigami was still forced backwards. Even his fingers continued to buzz from the sheer amount of energy he had released... He frowned; he was at least vaguely aware of his own strength, and doing a quick mental tally of his own Reiryoku reserves, he judged that he had used far too much in performing this technique. He sighed. it was quickly becoming apparent that he would need to expend more energy than he had initially intended to master this particular technique.

Hours passed, and sweat dripped from his brow... Trees bore the telltale signs of a local hurricane having blown through, but such was the results of his training. He had finally achieved similar results to his initial success, without the massive expenditure of his own Reiryoku. For that, he was thankful, and for that, he could finally feel comfortable enough to call himself a master of this technique. A thin smirked crossed his features, but he was not yet done for this day. Though his Reiryoku reserves were starting to feel rather depleted, the next item on his agenda required finesse, not quantity. Hohō, unlike Kido, was an art of great fluidity, not raw force and destruction. 

The book detailing the way of destruction was now, also discarded, and the same tome describing the art of "Fast Movement" was cracked open. The first few passages in the text detailed, in very explicit wording, how to achieve mastery of Shunpo. A small voice in the back of his mind felt a bit irritated with himself; that he had not sought this knowledge before undertaking his initial mastery of Shunpo, still, he had achieved the level that this book could call master. There was definitely pride to be taken in that, and though he had probably spent an unnecessary level of effort in the undertaking, he had done it, and that was all that mattered.

The second level of Hohō mastery was a more recent addition to this book... Shinigami quickly realized that they were sitting ducks if they were caught in mid-air; even the most fresh of Hollow could easily send a cero or other deadly technique towards the defenseless being. As such, one of the more creative members of the Gotei 13 had developed a counter measure to this unfortunate happening. He had called it Advanced Air Ground; and it basically taught one how to use their Reiryoku to maneuver in midair. The user would use their own energy to temporarily create solid panels, and then he would use said panels to rebound into a different direction, or even Shunpo out of harms way. All in all, it was a rather ingenious variation on the classic stair technique that everyone eventually learned. 

The book was carefully set aside, and the page preserved. He casually sauntered over to one of the still standing trees and sized the organism up. The muscles in his legs carefully coiled and he sprang upwards into the air. A flying kick was then sent towards the tree, it's purpose not to damage the Maple, but to springboard off. As expected, he had propelled himself a few feet horizontally; but with an awkward landing, and very little actual displacement, the Shinigami decided that it would certainly benefit him to take learning this technique a single step at a time. Besides, his spiritual reserves were in some need for some rest... Hours passed, and the unorthodox movement was very quickly becoming something he was more familiar with.

Now that he had a basic understanding of the physical aspects of this movement; he would need to work on the spiritual. As previously stated, the technique called for solid panels composed solely of the users Reiryoku, so naturally that was the next step. Given Hado's proficiency with his own energy, he figured that this aspect would be much quicker to master than the former. A panel of glass entered his minds eye, and he forced his Reiatsu to take that shape in front of him. Sure enough, when he extended his hand, it was stopped by an unseen force. However, as quickly as it appeared, the pane of Reiryoku disappeared. This result was not entirely unexpected, but it still caused a flicker of irritation to flash across his face. This problem was rectified in a matter of minutes, and he was soon ready to put the two concepts together.

The Shinigami stood in the center of the clearing; and from this vantage point he could clearly see that the sun was beginning to wane. He knew that the time to bring his training to a close was rapidly approaching, but he would not leave until he had mastered this second level of Hohō. A deep inhale, a low crouch, and he sprang high into the air. During his rise he forced his Reiryoku into the glass pane that he had envisioned, and sent his foot towards the construct. He had expected to rebound off of the solid Reiatsu, instead; the integrity was not assured. His kicked had shattered the creation, and he now tumbled towards the ground. In a flash of instinct, he created another pane, his hand reaching downwards to push himself into an upright position. Amusingly enough, in this state of panic, he had succeeded, and he found himself back upon his own two feet. Just in time too, as the last of the sun's rays had disappeared behind the canopy of trees... 

[Deleted]

+60 TP