Innocence didn't think she would get the chance to practice her new....abilities....while on her mission with Mercedes. It wasn't as if she expected to be frolicking through a pet cemetery while in a foreign nation, but alas that's exactly where two sisters found themselves. They were waiting for something but only the elder knew what and she wasn't keen on sharing. Innocence sat next to her sibling near one of the gravestones. Apparently the wealthy of the nation had a thing for pets in the past. This took the form of honoring them with extravagant coffins and expensive funerals. The area had been abandoned for some time though making it the perfect place for a secret meeting. In the meanwhile, Innocence had been telling her sister what had happened back at the hospital. She had been debating whether or not she should say anything but she decided in favor of telling Mercedes. She had been nicer of late and more emotionally available than she had ever been after their father's death. They would never get sappy but there was more trust and maturity there where there had not otherwise been. Besides, if there was anyone who could help her get a handle on this new form of jutsu that she was capable of it would certainly be Mercedes.
"So you brought a dog back to life?"
"Pretty muth yeah"
"And you think you can do it again?"
"Yeah. I don't know what it ith...thome kind of jutthu i think. I've been thinking on it. Practicing different configurathionth. Reading about jutthu creathion and i think have the right handtheal forumla to do it even better thith time."
"....I've never heard an Uchiha who can that. I've never heard of any shinobi that can do that."
"I know, i know i'm a freak. No thharingan but thome kind of weird necromancy."
"You're definitely a freak but that's because you put eggshells in your sandwiches."
"Thhut up! thith ith theriouth"
Mercedes put a hand on Innocence's shoulder.
"I know...I'm just saying. The Sharingan will come in time. Dad was a late bloomer too."
"But you weren't."
"Doesn't matter. I can't bring animals back from the dead and you can. I have no idea where this is coming from. Probably the same place you got your green eyes but you shouldn't run from it. Lean into it and make it your own."
"You don't think...." Innocence started quietly. "You don't think I'm adopted, do you?" she had been speculating on the possibility for some time now. It wasn't just the fact that she now had a strange new class of jutsu that seemed more like a kekkei genkai than some random blessing from the God of Dead Pets. It was that she had been born with eyes that no one in their family had nor that she couldn't activate the Sharingan.
Mercedes looked at her sister and raised an eyebrow. She had always joked about Innocence's green eyes but she had never implied that she was from another family.
"You aren't. I saw you when you were just a baby. Mom went into the room pregnant and she came out with a squaling green eyed baby. Not exactly the circumstances that would indicate an adoption. You may not have their eyes but you definitely have Dad's brain. You're a scholar at heart and so was he."
"I know but..."
"Look, I don't have all the answers Innocence but I won't let you sit here and tell me that Dad lied to us for years. If you really aren't sure get a DNA Test." Mercedes was getting irate at the line of conversation, but she was trying to be as patient as she could. "But I'd rather not think in those terms and neither should you."
"......"
The two sisters continued to sit in silence before Mercedes spoke up.
"Why don't you show me this new jutsu of yours. We're in the perfect place for it."
"You want to dethecrate the grave thite of a dozen dead foreign petth??"
"Sure. Why not?"
Innocence flickered through some handseals and used Earth Release: Fissure and some other techniques to bring up a few pet coffins. The sister cracked them open and brought out a few bones, rotted dog corpses and perfectly preserved cats. The budding surgeon made the appropriate handseals and reached out to touch one of the embalmed felines. She closed her eyes and a flood of genetic information pervaded her mind. She could see lines of code burned into her conciousness. She had read enough to know what it all meant but even if she didn't, a part of her instinctively knew. Innocence's green eyes flashed.
"Okay I think I got it."
"Now what?"
Innocence redid the handseals and put her hand on the ground. Live! A cat burst from the ground near Mercedes causing her sister to jump in alarm. The creature was like a walking zombie with a missing ear, eye and covered in a mixture of dirt and rotting flesh. The most disturbing part was the creature's eyes. It contained the same neon green glow that Innocence's held. Innocence found that she could control the cat just by thinking about it. It followed every one of her commands and contained to skip and jump around the area.
"Okay fair enough. That's definitely weird. What else you got?"
"Well, I made an even better verthion of the tethnique. I can thee dozenth of dead particleth around me at all timeth and if I graft more of it onto our little dead friend here, I can make him thtronger."
Innocence made more handsigns, closed her eyes and focused. A second cat burst from the ground but with noticeably more speed than the first. She ordered the critters to run circles around each other in a mesmerizing kind of way. Innocence continued to practice using what she would term the "Gene-Seeded Copy Jutsu." The better versions of the technique required more chakra and were even more complicated but with Mercedes coaching on her chakra control, precision and handsealing formula, she was able to perfect it. Her older sister was an invaluable resource in this regard. She had a lot of expertise in making new techniques and her ability to use the Sharingan to analyze Innocence's chakra control and the movements of the pets she was creating was helpful. After a significant amount of practice with the Gene-Seeded Copy Techniques, Innocence and Mercedes decided to take a short break.
"How are things coming along with your Genjutsu?"
"Dethent I guethth."
"You should start tying it to this zombie jutsu or whatever you call it."
"Detrituth Releathe."
"What?"
"I call it Detrituth Releathe."
"Sure. Tie it to your Ninjutsu to increase your effectiveness with both. You're really good at illusions. You always had the potential but....."
"No creativity?"
"You said it not me."
"How nithe of you to leave it unthaid" Innocence said rolling her eyes.
"That was a then problem. I can tell you no longer have that issue. You're more focused now. Hungrier. You have more life experience. You know what scares yourself. You know what scares other people. Use that in your illusions and you'll be unstoppable."
Innocence nodded and took a notebook where she began to rapidly sketch out a Genjutsu. Mercedes sat next to her and helped her craft the technique. The idea was to create an entire class of illusions that would compliment the Gene-Seeded Techniques well. The first would involve all of the gross and disgusting maggots that were often seen on deceased tissue. It would take full advantage of mankind's natural and universal fear of death and decay. Innocence had become de-sensitized to such horrors due to her time working at the hospital and her innate tolerance for the macabre. Her opponents were not likely to be as lucky. Mercedes allowed herself to be a guinea pig for Innocence to test out her illusions. Because these Genjutsu were of her own creation and not extensively taught in the textbooks she had been reading, it was important for her to have a few live training sessions so that she could see it work in action. Innocence made the relevant handsigns, executed the trigger and sent her chakra into Mercedes's brain. The Jounin then instructed her on what to fix based on the effect. Despite the horror of it all, Mercedes remained calm knowing that it was all fake. She's just acting tough....it scares her...what I can do....... Even if she acted cooly, Innocence knew her sibling well enough to tell that she was a bit shaken by all of this progress. It was like she was seeing Innocence for the first time and finally beginning to come to terms with the fact that her baby sister was now a woman of the shinobi arts now. The theoretical day where she'd bloom was fast approaching and now they were rapidly moving towards becoming closer to peers. Innocence knew she had a long way to go before she could match her sister but today was the first step. A fact that Mercedes would had to have realized as well. Nonetheless, despite her subtle change in demeanor, Mercedes continue to help Innocence develo the Unethical and Wicked Consumption Genjutsu. She even gave her pointers on the Funeral Rites Technique and the Graveyard Technique. Eventually, they needed to take a break as the mental toll of all the Genjutsu was beginning to wear on Mercedes. She was an expert in the field and had a high tolerance for psychological damage but nonetheless she was still susceptible to being overloaded with it.
"Getting a bit tired?"
"Shut up. Don't let it get to your head."
"Hey I learned from the betht" Innocence said with a grin. It wasn't like her to be so humble, but the bonding they had done was beginning to soften her sisterly barbs.
"Don't go soft on me just yet. You're definitely coming along fast in Genjutsu...faster than I did when I was your age but if you can't move and fight in the thick of combat then it won't matter how good your Genjutsu is. After this, we train your Ken."
Innocence huffed but she knew her sister was right. She had made significant progress in the field of sword fighting but she was still not ready for prime time just yet. It had helped that she had learned to incorporate her skill with the scapel into her skill with the sword, but there was still tightening up that needed to be done. The other entrants would be working just as hard and in the case of some like Natsuki they were born with more talent than she could ever hope to have. Her new class of Ninjutsu and her rapidly developing Genjutsu arsenal might give her an edge but it would not relieve her of having to study the fundamentals of close quarters combat. After a quick break, Mercedes and Innocence sparred in the pet cemetery with swords. Mercedes always seemed to have a lot of them on her person, either strapped to her bag or in the scrolls she carried. The two went at it for a while, steel ringing throughout the graveyard. Mercedes had taught Innocence the art of Genkenjutsu. A custom blend of skills of her own creation and one that she had used to devastating effect against her opponents.
"Tho thith ith how you earned that flak jacket?"
"Among other ways yes"
The art of the Genkenjutsu was simple in conception but brilliant in practice. By layering the illusion onto the sword and using it as a trigger, Innocence could confuse and trick her opponents with ghostly after-images making it difficult to tell where she was going to strike from next. Mercedes had mastered an even stronger form of the jutsu as she was still a better Kenjutsu and Genjutsu user than Innocence, but the the younger sister was surprisingly more adept at keeping up with her than in the past. Mercedes also used Genkenjutsu so that Inno could get a sense how how the technique was meant to be used. She carefully watched and mentally recorded the way the illusion bended around her older sister's form so as to trick one and allow for better positioning. Innocence tried to do the same but put her own spooky spin on the technique. After a few hours of practice, Innocence felt that she could the hang of this technique and so they moved onto something else. To better, supplement her Kenjutsu and Genjutsu, Innocence wanted to further the development of her Detritus Release Techniques. She decided to talk that piece out with Mercedes and the two of them discussed how to best forumulate the technique.
"So its not just dead pets?"
"No. Itth the dead organic matter at the heart of it all."
"And you want to create like a mist field basically?"
"Yeah thomething that will cover my trackth and allow me to thtrike from multiple angleth."
"Well its going to need a wide range"
"Yeah."
"Probably will cost a fair bit of chakra too"
"I have a plan for that. Motht of the detrituth I need ith in the earth itthelf, i've been practicing doton and i've gotten pretty good at it."
"You're going to churn the Earth for Detritus and spit it out"
"Exactly"
"Not a bad plan but you're going to want to have perfect chakra control so that you don't gas yourself trying to maintain the Ninjutsu....here let me show you a few exercises."
Mercedes proceeded to coach Innocence on her chakra control. They found the right handseal forumla for the technique and then it came down to sheer practice. Innocence practiced making the relevant handsigns and then began to churn the dirt underneath her. She could sense and feel the millions of bits of dead organic matters underneath the earth and with a fluctuation of her chakra she spilled it out and upwards creating a corruptive miasma. Mercedes put on a gas mask and judged the technique with her Sharingan. She made Innocence re-do the technique ten times before she was satisfied with the chakra expenditure, damage, and range of the jutsu.
Gene-Seeded Copy [B-Rank Custom] 250 Words
Graveyard [B-Rank Custom] 250 Words
Gene-Seeded Copy: Necrer [A-Rank Custom] 300 Words
Unethical and Wicked Consumption [A-Rank Custom] 300 Words
Funeral Rites [B-Rank Custom] 250 Words
Gene-Seeded Copy: Necrest [B-Rank Custom] 250 Words
Genkenjutsu: Ghost [A-Rank Custom/50% Off due to Skill] 150 Words
Ditritus Miasma [A-Rank Custom] 300 WC
300 Words per technique [S-Rank] 300 WC
2,367/2,350
ALL LEARNED
"So you brought a dog back to life?"
"Pretty muth yeah"
"And you think you can do it again?"
"Yeah. I don't know what it ith...thome kind of jutthu i think. I've been thinking on it. Practicing different configurathionth. Reading about jutthu creathion and i think have the right handtheal forumla to do it even better thith time."
"....I've never heard an Uchiha who can that. I've never heard of any shinobi that can do that."
"I know, i know i'm a freak. No thharingan but thome kind of weird necromancy."
"You're definitely a freak but that's because you put eggshells in your sandwiches."
"Thhut up! thith ith theriouth"
Mercedes put a hand on Innocence's shoulder.
"I know...I'm just saying. The Sharingan will come in time. Dad was a late bloomer too."
"But you weren't."
"Doesn't matter. I can't bring animals back from the dead and you can. I have no idea where this is coming from. Probably the same place you got your green eyes but you shouldn't run from it. Lean into it and make it your own."
"You don't think...." Innocence started quietly. "You don't think I'm adopted, do you?" she had been speculating on the possibility for some time now. It wasn't just the fact that she now had a strange new class of jutsu that seemed more like a kekkei genkai than some random blessing from the God of Dead Pets. It was that she had been born with eyes that no one in their family had nor that she couldn't activate the Sharingan.
Mercedes looked at her sister and raised an eyebrow. She had always joked about Innocence's green eyes but she had never implied that she was from another family.
"You aren't. I saw you when you were just a baby. Mom went into the room pregnant and she came out with a squaling green eyed baby. Not exactly the circumstances that would indicate an adoption. You may not have their eyes but you definitely have Dad's brain. You're a scholar at heart and so was he."
"I know but..."
"Look, I don't have all the answers Innocence but I won't let you sit here and tell me that Dad lied to us for years. If you really aren't sure get a DNA Test." Mercedes was getting irate at the line of conversation, but she was trying to be as patient as she could. "But I'd rather not think in those terms and neither should you."
"......"
The two sisters continued to sit in silence before Mercedes spoke up.
"Why don't you show me this new jutsu of yours. We're in the perfect place for it."
"You want to dethecrate the grave thite of a dozen dead foreign petth??"
"Sure. Why not?"
Innocence flickered through some handseals and used Earth Release: Fissure and some other techniques to bring up a few pet coffins. The sister cracked them open and brought out a few bones, rotted dog corpses and perfectly preserved cats. The budding surgeon made the appropriate handseals and reached out to touch one of the embalmed felines. She closed her eyes and a flood of genetic information pervaded her mind. She could see lines of code burned into her conciousness. She had read enough to know what it all meant but even if she didn't, a part of her instinctively knew. Innocence's green eyes flashed.
"Okay I think I got it."
"Now what?"
Innocence redid the handseals and put her hand on the ground. Live! A cat burst from the ground near Mercedes causing her sister to jump in alarm. The creature was like a walking zombie with a missing ear, eye and covered in a mixture of dirt and rotting flesh. The most disturbing part was the creature's eyes. It contained the same neon green glow that Innocence's held. Innocence found that she could control the cat just by thinking about it. It followed every one of her commands and contained to skip and jump around the area.
"Okay fair enough. That's definitely weird. What else you got?"
"Well, I made an even better verthion of the tethnique. I can thee dozenth of dead particleth around me at all timeth and if I graft more of it onto our little dead friend here, I can make him thtronger."
Innocence made more handsigns, closed her eyes and focused. A second cat burst from the ground but with noticeably more speed than the first. She ordered the critters to run circles around each other in a mesmerizing kind of way. Innocence continued to practice using what she would term the "Gene-Seeded Copy Jutsu." The better versions of the technique required more chakra and were even more complicated but with Mercedes coaching on her chakra control, precision and handsealing formula, she was able to perfect it. Her older sister was an invaluable resource in this regard. She had a lot of expertise in making new techniques and her ability to use the Sharingan to analyze Innocence's chakra control and the movements of the pets she was creating was helpful. After a significant amount of practice with the Gene-Seeded Copy Techniques, Innocence and Mercedes decided to take a short break.
"How are things coming along with your Genjutsu?"
"Dethent I guethth."
"You should start tying it to this zombie jutsu or whatever you call it."
"Detrituth Releathe."
"What?"
"I call it Detrituth Releathe."
"Sure. Tie it to your Ninjutsu to increase your effectiveness with both. You're really good at illusions. You always had the potential but....."
"No creativity?"
"You said it not me."
"How nithe of you to leave it unthaid" Innocence said rolling her eyes.
"That was a then problem. I can tell you no longer have that issue. You're more focused now. Hungrier. You have more life experience. You know what scares yourself. You know what scares other people. Use that in your illusions and you'll be unstoppable."
Innocence nodded and took a notebook where she began to rapidly sketch out a Genjutsu. Mercedes sat next to her and helped her craft the technique. The idea was to create an entire class of illusions that would compliment the Gene-Seeded Techniques well. The first would involve all of the gross and disgusting maggots that were often seen on deceased tissue. It would take full advantage of mankind's natural and universal fear of death and decay. Innocence had become de-sensitized to such horrors due to her time working at the hospital and her innate tolerance for the macabre. Her opponents were not likely to be as lucky. Mercedes allowed herself to be a guinea pig for Innocence to test out her illusions. Because these Genjutsu were of her own creation and not extensively taught in the textbooks she had been reading, it was important for her to have a few live training sessions so that she could see it work in action. Innocence made the relevant handsigns, executed the trigger and sent her chakra into Mercedes's brain. The Jounin then instructed her on what to fix based on the effect. Despite the horror of it all, Mercedes remained calm knowing that it was all fake. She's just acting tough....it scares her...what I can do....... Even if she acted cooly, Innocence knew her sibling well enough to tell that she was a bit shaken by all of this progress. It was like she was seeing Innocence for the first time and finally beginning to come to terms with the fact that her baby sister was now a woman of the shinobi arts now. The theoretical day where she'd bloom was fast approaching and now they were rapidly moving towards becoming closer to peers. Innocence knew she had a long way to go before she could match her sister but today was the first step. A fact that Mercedes would had to have realized as well. Nonetheless, despite her subtle change in demeanor, Mercedes continue to help Innocence develo the Unethical and Wicked Consumption Genjutsu. She even gave her pointers on the Funeral Rites Technique and the Graveyard Technique. Eventually, they needed to take a break as the mental toll of all the Genjutsu was beginning to wear on Mercedes. She was an expert in the field and had a high tolerance for psychological damage but nonetheless she was still susceptible to being overloaded with it.
"Getting a bit tired?"
"Shut up. Don't let it get to your head."
"Hey I learned from the betht" Innocence said with a grin. It wasn't like her to be so humble, but the bonding they had done was beginning to soften her sisterly barbs.
"Don't go soft on me just yet. You're definitely coming along fast in Genjutsu...faster than I did when I was your age but if you can't move and fight in the thick of combat then it won't matter how good your Genjutsu is. After this, we train your Ken."
Innocence huffed but she knew her sister was right. She had made significant progress in the field of sword fighting but she was still not ready for prime time just yet. It had helped that she had learned to incorporate her skill with the scapel into her skill with the sword, but there was still tightening up that needed to be done. The other entrants would be working just as hard and in the case of some like Natsuki they were born with more talent than she could ever hope to have. Her new class of Ninjutsu and her rapidly developing Genjutsu arsenal might give her an edge but it would not relieve her of having to study the fundamentals of close quarters combat. After a quick break, Mercedes and Innocence sparred in the pet cemetery with swords. Mercedes always seemed to have a lot of them on her person, either strapped to her bag or in the scrolls she carried. The two went at it for a while, steel ringing throughout the graveyard. Mercedes had taught Innocence the art of Genkenjutsu. A custom blend of skills of her own creation and one that she had used to devastating effect against her opponents.
"Tho thith ith how you earned that flak jacket?"
"Among other ways yes"
The art of the Genkenjutsu was simple in conception but brilliant in practice. By layering the illusion onto the sword and using it as a trigger, Innocence could confuse and trick her opponents with ghostly after-images making it difficult to tell where she was going to strike from next. Mercedes had mastered an even stronger form of the jutsu as she was still a better Kenjutsu and Genjutsu user than Innocence, but the the younger sister was surprisingly more adept at keeping up with her than in the past. Mercedes also used Genkenjutsu so that Inno could get a sense how how the technique was meant to be used. She carefully watched and mentally recorded the way the illusion bended around her older sister's form so as to trick one and allow for better positioning. Innocence tried to do the same but put her own spooky spin on the technique. After a few hours of practice, Innocence felt that she could the hang of this technique and so they moved onto something else. To better, supplement her Kenjutsu and Genjutsu, Innocence wanted to further the development of her Detritus Release Techniques. She decided to talk that piece out with Mercedes and the two of them discussed how to best forumulate the technique.
"So its not just dead pets?"
"No. Itth the dead organic matter at the heart of it all."
"And you want to create like a mist field basically?"
"Yeah thomething that will cover my trackth and allow me to thtrike from multiple angleth."
"Well its going to need a wide range"
"Yeah."
"Probably will cost a fair bit of chakra too"
"I have a plan for that. Motht of the detrituth I need ith in the earth itthelf, i've been practicing doton and i've gotten pretty good at it."
"You're going to churn the Earth for Detritus and spit it out"
"Exactly"
"Not a bad plan but you're going to want to have perfect chakra control so that you don't gas yourself trying to maintain the Ninjutsu....here let me show you a few exercises."
Mercedes proceeded to coach Innocence on her chakra control. They found the right handseal forumla for the technique and then it came down to sheer practice. Innocence practiced making the relevant handsigns and then began to churn the dirt underneath her. She could sense and feel the millions of bits of dead organic matters underneath the earth and with a fluctuation of her chakra she spilled it out and upwards creating a corruptive miasma. Mercedes put on a gas mask and judged the technique with her Sharingan. She made Innocence re-do the technique ten times before she was satisfied with the chakra expenditure, damage, and range of the jutsu.
Gene-Seeded Copy [B-Rank Custom] 250 Words
Graveyard [B-Rank Custom] 250 Words
Gene-Seeded Copy: Necrer [A-Rank Custom] 300 Words
Unethical and Wicked Consumption [A-Rank Custom] 300 Words
Funeral Rites [B-Rank Custom] 250 Words
Gene-Seeded Copy: Necrest [B-Rank Custom] 250 Words
Genkenjutsu: Ghost [A-Rank Custom/50% Off due to Skill] 150 Words
Ditritus Miasma [A-Rank Custom] 300 WC
300 Words per technique [S-Rank] 300 WC
2,367/2,350
ALL LEARNED
