Venom and Vice

The waterfall roared as the water came down crashing into the basin below. The mountain range around it was soaked and slippery, a danger for all those deciding on climbing it without an inkling of chakra. In the middle of that cascading grace, on a platform barely big enough for a single person to stand, an oni had decided to stand there motionless, eyes closed and entranced as she maintained a horse stance.

Wearing nothing but a long shirt and shorts, the pallid body of the oni trembled as her bones were soaked to the bone, the cold of the stones and harsh waters having seeped deeply into her skin already. A tint of red coloured her face, the signs of a fever having struck her, begging the question how long she had been standing here. But as water streamed off her face, mouth slightly open to breath as efficiently as possible, the entranced oni refused to budge.

Sunken in deep meditation and channelling the demonic heritage of the oni, Akari felt no cold despite the hazards. As if protected by the fires of Hell, she tortured herself to endure the ravaging forces of nature as she dug deep in her own potential to drag out the deepest secrets of the Five Venom Fist.

The first being the Toad style, the resilient form of the Five Venoms, required a certain strength of will to defy the hardships of life. It's power and potential only drawn out by suffering the worst of beatings. The oni, having lived most of her life in the wilderness, knew little else than ruthless force of thunder and lightning or waterfalls for that matter. As she could not invoke Nature's Wrath at her behest, she had found purpose in the latter.

The second secret was that of the Scorpion, a brutal offensive form requiring strength of muscle and purpose. Though Akari missed the destructive power on a physical level, she was more than capable of achieving such power by other means. So rather than to train her muscles she had decided on suffering its venom. The slight hypothermia and fever she was suffering was symbolic to that, as one was not deserving of the Scorpion as an ally as long as could not be opposed in kind.

So it was that the oni had decided on the crazy idea of standing under a waterfall, delivered to the mercy of Nature herself as she endured its power.

---

10 XP [1/3 daily]
410 wc

Training: Five Venom Fist, Iron Skin [200]
Training: Five Venom Fist, Scarlet Needle [200]

While in trance, the mind of the oni stirred. Back to the years of training she had undergone in this martial arts form. Back to the very first trials of the Five Venom Fist stance. A time where speed and precision were being trained in its earliest stages, striking pressure points and sensitive spots one by one. The venoms had but one purpose: pain. What it lacked in strength it would make up in torture potential, every strike to be true as it shot intense but brief pain through the opponent's body. Everything to break the target's will rather than its body. Some had called it a 'soft style' much like the Gentle Fist of Konoha since it eschewed power for precision, but the damage of the Five Venom Fist practised by a master was possibly far more lethal.

Techniques as the Scarlet Needle and Antares were devastating if not dealt with, the poison of the scorpion upon which it was based ruthlessly burning through its victim. It left the target in a weakened state rather quickly, delivered to the mercy of a creature who'd sting time and again until its prey was dead. Every of its moves was one with sheer power and domination in mind, with the deadliest techniques being a cruel destiny towards inescapable death. No matter the rank, apprentice or master, the Scorpion was a vile creature of pure destruction better left unopposed.

Though Akari appreciated the idea of being stronger than her opponent, she frankly disliked how the Scorpion left little room to torture her opponent. The oni was not one for pure strength and destruction, preferring a prolonged approach where she could savour the despair of her opponent, feeding on the fear. The dream eater much preferred to create nightmares within other people's mind so she could devour them in glee. The Scorpion style tended to take that pleasure away from her too fast, too soon, but she could not consider herself a master in the Five Venom Fist if she didn't learn its techniques either way.

No, Akari's favourite style was that of the Snake. Swift, precise strikes. Its essence perfectly reflected in the stance and approach of the Five Venom stance. Unstoppable as it bypassed defences, torturing as it weakened the opponent's ability to withstand its punishment. The Snake was a a slow style that brought down the endurance of the mountains and ended up turning it into rubble, the venom eroding the stone like water. Combined with her genjutsu, the opponent would be delivered to her mercy and forced into submission. Forced to succumb to its weak state to the point they'd allow the oni to play with them as she pleased - one wing pulled, then the second. One leg gone, then another. A cruelty stemming from boredom and a deep-seething hatred for life itself.

---

20 XP [2/3 daily]
474
Total: 884

Learning: Five Venom Fist, Antares [250]
Learning: Five Venom Fist, Serpent Fang [200]

Was it surprising the oni could recollect more memories of her practising the various techniques pertaining to the Snake style? Akari had seemed a natural at it. The truth was more so that she found a lot of similarities between ijutsu and the fighting style, feeling comfortable weaving both together, a combat orientation of medical techniques. Even if she had the ability to heal others, the demoness had often refrained from doing so. Enjoying the pain that came with suffered strikes to some extend. Revelling in the misery she brought onto others. A dark child. But a good student. Akari was easily one of the better practitioners of the Snake style, perhaps due to her ijutsu affinity, but what she gained there she lost on other styles. Such was often the case with a martial arts that took in several styles. One would always end up being superior over the others.

Memories of how her hands and arms would bypass the blocks of her opponents would flood the entranced oni much like the water cascaded down. All in quick succession, every figment of the past like a drip of water being bundled together, carried forward and then poured over the oni, battering her mind's concentration. Though she enjoyed these memories of her victories and superiority, they now turned against her during this self-imposed trial. Her feverish trance wavered, the Snake style she was so fond off now bypassing her mental shield and biting her back from all sides. The snake bites weren't the worst to suffer but they were many. A slow and painful defeat looming ahead as the body of the oni wavered and threatened to be dragged along the flow of the waterfall above her.

Taking a deep breath, Akari would refocus her consciousness. Steeling her resolve like the Toad would. Small and thick-skinned. Toad was not the most ideal style to fend off the serpent but it certainly could and would endure its venom. It might look worse for the wear after the ordeal, but death would not be its part. Toad would come to her aide, the mental barrier against the memories renewed. She had to endure. She could and would endure this trial. Not out a matter of pride or desire for mastery but simply to remind the oni, who had been living for years in Kumogakure now, what true survival meant. Back to her roots. To the dark, damp earth where she had lived under. To the plants and beasts she had lived with. Back to Nature and its hardships. She was Toad now, slow and steady. Feeling earth, enduring water. The poison of her own mind meant nothing to her today.

---

[EXIT]

30 XP [3/3 daily]
448
Total: 1332

Learning: Five Venom Fist, Coiling Snakes [200]
Learning: Five Venom Fist, Twin Snake Flurry [200]

Used: Iron Skin [87/90 chakra], weakness: tailbone

Iron Skin: