Larceny [Training]

Age : 35 Posts : 1113

[NB: There is considerable backstory before the training, but I'll make sure the training itself is long enough.]

Yoichi was quite the lucky man. He'd grown up in relative poverty - never struggling for food, but deprived of many luxuries his peers seemed to have. Yet now, he had made a name for himself amongst the Kirigakure shinobi and earned a respectable salary. He had standing amongst his fellow ninja, a comfortable house and a good woman. His wife had a hardened character, but was utterly loyal to the man she loved. At this very moment, she was preparing a large portion of meat for the pair of them to share when her husband returned from his mission to Otogakure no Sato. Yoichi, for his part, had brought said mission to a close, having dispatched the information (via carrier bird) that he had been sent to collect. A satisfied smile on his face, he gazed at the setting sun before beginning the journey home. This was a story of a life turned on it's head, and for the better. Night had fallen by the time he reached the outskirts of the village and as most respectable shinobi could tell, this was a time for the undercity to come alive. The man headed for shelter - he desperately wanted to avoid any unwelcome entanglements.

Tonight, sadly, was not the night to be Yoichi Takada. As large droplets of rain pattered loudly against the cobbled streets, a second figure took a similar route to the man. Concealed by night, by weather and by guise, the silhouette hopped across the rooftops and was soon slightly ahead of the man running down below. Silently, the figure dropped to street level, the cloak floating softly back into position after the landing. Tap, tap, tap... Yoichi's footsteps were made yet more audible by the pools of water he hit with each movement. The figure stayed silent and listened to the approaching noise. A shower of water announced the man's arrival on the street, the familiar sound growing louder as he neared his pursuer. As he ran into the area where the alleyway opened up slightly, Yoichi felt a fast and powerful impact crash into his thorax, knocking him flying into the far wall. The striking appendage stayed close to his neck and pressed him up against the wall the instant he struck it. The scene was a blur before his eyes, rain obscuring what little he could make out. The cloaked figure released his throat for a moment - but before he could even raise a finger to defend himself - struck again at the neck. Yoichi's body gave an involuntary shudder and immediatly felt completely wrong. He tried to move, to even just wriggle his arm, but found his toe responded instead. His captor let him slide to the sodden street floor, unable to escape. A moment later, a sharp needle-like sensation in his arm and then... darkness.

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Continued Below.

Age : 35 Posts : 1113

Training:

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Slap. The harsh sound echoed around the dank room. "Ughh..." A muted groan followed shortly after. The stinging sensation led to an unplesant warmth on the side of the man's face. Wearily lifting his eyelids, Yoichi blinked forcibly as he questioned what he was seeing. Murky, damp stone walls bracketed by charred wooden supports and a large, heavy-looking door. How did I...? He thought groggily to himself. Slowly the earlier events caught up to him and as if on cue, his captor stepped quietly into view. She (for it was a woman) had the look of one who had seen many terrible battles - and had been victorious in almost all. Her battle scars and superior air told Yoichi that he was not in the company of a weak, fearful creature. In fact, were it not for her missing arm, the man would have guessed that this woman was unbested in combat. Her clothing told him nothing about her, though her many pouches suggested she was quite an organized, 'always-prepared' woman. Concern had taken some time to set in, but just now Yoichi felt it in spades. Instinctively trying to lift his hands, he found them lashed behind his back. His feet met a similar fate. Strong, twined metal wire had been used, forsaking the cheap and usually slippable rope. Whoever she was, the female nukenin knew what she was doing.

Uriko was not feeling particularly patient today. The man had taken more than enough time to come around and was now blearily surveying his situation. She caught a glimpse of his hands wringgling against the tight wire coiled around them. Slap. She lashed out, quite suddenly, catching Yoichi's face with the back of her hand. "I already intercepted your bird." She murmured, kicking a small cardboard box toward the bound captive. The lifeless messenger lay crumpled and flustered inside the small container. Yoichi remained silent, though his features visibly fell at the news. "But I didn't come here to ask about your mission. Instead, let's talk about this." The woman continued, withdrawing a small book from the folds of her garb. The words 'bingo book' were embossed on the top left of the cover. "I want to know everything that you do about these targets." She explained, dropping the book and forming a short set of handseals with her one good hand. Powder blue chakra emerged from her hand as she moved closer to a clearly fearful Yoichi. Leaning over him, she brushed the hand against his reddened cheek. "Agh!" He gasped, as the chakra cut clean through his skin, leaving a small but painful incision across the already stinging flesh. With just one finger now, Uriko traced a small curved line, to join up the ends of the cut. As she finished, the kunoichi pulled lightly at the skin and removed the triangle of it from the man's cheek. Holding it up to the light, she smiled and placed it carefully on a small glass plate on the sideboard behind her.

"I wouldn't worry too much about what I'm doing, friend. Just keep talking while I work. The pain should be considerably lessened if your mind isn't focused on it." Uriko explained wistfully. "Let's start with last known locations." She added, her voice almost cheerful as she returned to her task. Using the scalpel-like technique, the kunoichi cut deeper into the incision on the man's cheek, this time gouging about a square inch of flesh. Unsurprisingly, Yoichi bellowed with pain throughout. "Lo-CATIONS!" Uriko roared back at him, swinging her hand and striking the man viciously across the large, open wound. This only prompted more screams. When he had retained control over his emotions, Yoichi began to talk. "Hi no Kuni... Konoha." He muttered, struggling for breath. "Daosumi, Uchiha, Yuki... and the Shichibi." The man whispered. Kneeling down beside him, the kunoichi shook her head and tutted disapprovingly. "Tch. You buckled so soon. What would-" She was cut off as the man yelled in agony. Uriko had carved another segment of flesh and skin, this time from his leg. Almost immediately, she was upon him, stifling his cry by thrusting her gown-covered forearm into his open mouth. Snarling with distaste, she looked him in the eye. "I told you not to focus on it." She spoke firmly, with a raised voice and glaring features. After an intense moment, she pulled away, settling down next to Yoichi's other leg and was soon returning with yet more souvenirs.

The captive shinobi was doing his utmost to contain his whimpers. "Get-Getsugakure. Noroi and an Inuzuka. There's... at tournament. You'll find the... the boy there. The girl, I don't... I don't..." Yoichi's head lolled slightly and his eyelids flickered. Swiftly and silently, the kunoichi flicked open one of her many item pouches and withdrew a small syringe. Without hesitation, she slid it into her captive's forearm and pushed the plunger. The clear liquid fed smoothly into his system and the woman returned to taking chunks out of the man, apparently unconcerned with the effects of her attentions. A deep gasp came from the man's direction as his head jerked up and his eyes widened. His chest rose and fell rapidly now, his heartbeat considerably faster. But the Kirigakure shinobi had no time to question the effect, for the cruel kunoichi was now extracting a keepsake from his chest. "Kaze n-no Kuni. A Kaguya was seen leaving." He exhaled, nervously awaiting the fresh wave of pain. "Good." The kunoichi muttered, observing her collection of samples from Yoichi's body. "Abilities?" She called out, her back still turned. There was a moment's silence. "I don't-" He began, but was cut short by the hand sinking through his throat. A wet, gurgling noise filled the room as Uriko's hand pulled away from inside the man's neck. Clasped gently between her fingers was his larynx, from which she cut a small piece and dropped the remainder into Yoichi's lifeless lap.

With her informant now dead, the female nukenin turned her attention to the assembled samples. Skin taken from the man's arms, legs, torso and face. Flesh from his arms, legs, torso and face. And the tiny portion of his larynx, still wet with blood. A flicker of a smile crossed her face, if only for a moment. Wordlessly, she began to remove her clothing, until just the bandages around her upper chest remained. Then, without flinching, Uriko once more used her chakra blade to slice, this time into her own skin. She made incisions in each of her legs, her one arm, her shoulder 'stump', her face and her torso. In turn, she placed the smallest fragment of flesh from Yoichi's respective body parts. Letting them stand for a moment, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Carefully, ever so carefully, she pressed two fingers up against her throat and through to her own larynx. She immediately fought the urge to breathe in or out, instead moving quickly to fuse the 'extracted' larynx segment with her own. Forming a new set of seals with her one hand, a pallid green aura replaced the blue one, and she held her whole hand over her neck, down which a great deal of blood was cascading. The wound sealed rapidly, and the woman drew a sharp intake of breath. Uriko took just a moment to compose herself before pressing her fingers to each other cut, closing them around the new flesh almost instantly.

Keeping the Shousen no Jutsu active, the woman then applied the skin samples, one by one, to their respective areas. The healing technique fused them to her own almost instantly. In truth, the nefarious medical nin could have performed this technique with far more rudimentary techniques - simple stitching would have sufficed. But she wasn't in the mood to take shortcuts. This was the most effective method, if the most chakra-heavy. With every piece taken from Yoichi now secured in place, Uriko stood deathly still, her eyes closed as she spread her chakra to each affected area. Her flesh seemed to wriggle and writhe, her bones cracked and her skin shivered. A low creak emananted from her legs, followed by a somewhat wet, almost inaudible noise. The kunoichi's features were changing, twisting and shaping themselves to fit the visage of their former master. But the differences weren't just skin-deep. Her legs were widening and lengthening, her chest expanding and from her once severed shoulder burst a new arm. The woman was disappointed when she felt the new arm set into place. It felt heavy, cumbersome and lacked any of the abilities she had meticulously honed over the years. She had hoped this technique might be the gateway to reclaiming her lost limb, but now knew this could not be the case. It gave her a ghost arm, an artificial thing that would respond no better than a block of wood lashed into place.

Uriko's disappointment over the arm aside, the technique had been a magnificent success. She grabbed the half-mirror shard from the sideboard and gazed at her reflection through the dust and rust. It was an immaculate job - even her chakra felt different. "Hel-Hello." The effect on her voice surprised the woman at first. It was deeper than before, softer and with more warmth. Admiring the procedure's success for a moment, the female nukenin quickly gathered her wits. She plucked the bingo book from the floor and a pencil from the sideboard. Turning her back on the increasingly cold form of Yoichi Takada, Uriko Nagase made her way out through the heavy door and into the rain.

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