Becoming Unbreakable [Ability Swaps]

[Miroku Riyota]

Fwoosh...Fwoosh... "Hmm..." Riyota murmured, giving a few test swings to the large unwieldy greatsword he had forged so many years ago. Fwoosh...Ting...Fwoosh...Ting... The young shinobi sighed, when he had first created the black and white blade he had thought it a mighty weapon of great power. Now though, in comparison to many things he had seen it was quite pathetic. It didn't hit often, and even when it did its impact was somewhat lacking. Riyota had great skill in the use of blades but there was only so much a person could do when their blade was not up to standard.

Stabbing the greatsword into the ground he stretched, cracking his back to get some energy flowing through once again. "Things need to change, first me, then the weapon." He shot a glance at the stump on his right shoulder that had once been an arm. "A lot of things about me need to change, but I can't call myself a master whilst this is still my weapon. Time for some new developments!" He shouted. Psyching himself up.

[Marked for Weapon Mastery ability removal]

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Riyota was leant forward, his head resting on the wall and his feet planted into the sandy ground, retaining a balanced equilibrium as he pondered the proposed changes as aforementioned. 'I...need...I-I need...I need, speed. That's it! The big weapon on a small guy thing worked, at first. Caused people to underestimate me, but I'm not small anymore, and the big sword is so easy to dodge...but what if I had two swords!'

He pushed himself away from the wall and found himself contained in the grey mists of his inner headspace. Ayotir lying on an overhead rafter, asleep for the time being. On the surface of his mind in front of Riyota however, schematics and pencils, a table and a stool all manifested. Begging him to design a grand new weapon upon their surfaces.

"Let's see... He pondered, grabbing a pencil and tapping it on his chin. "I need something strong, but quick. Little wind resistance, but still durable. And I need two of the-..." The thought halted suddenly as he looked towards the stump again. His eyes darting back and forth he began thinking of ways to work the weapons into his body. "If I could store them somewhere within me, prevent them from being stolen..plus it would make transport far easier...I'd need an arm." He nodded to himself, quickly sketching up schematics for a steel, mechanical prosthetic to replace the detached limb that was likely no more than a charred pile of ash at this point.

"Need it to work with what I can do, so right blade will work on a spring trigger mechanic within the prosthetic, it can replace the arm...-also need it to be capable of transmitting chakra...-could add a few launchers here, and here, and here...make shooting bone shards easier...could also pre-load for surprise. Yeah, yes! This can work..." He scrawled the last few parts on to the arm design before taking it and filing it away in his memories.

"Now the actual weapon, I need a way for it to fuse and detach from my bones and cartilage in my left arm. If I can hide it in there I'm sorted!" He nodded.

A while later

Still within his headspace he imagined his body with the new replacement limb, practicing proficiency in using this new right arm as efficiently as his left. After quite a while of daydreaming, he snapped awake again. Looking to the stump once more, he knew he could do this.

[Replacing Weapon Mastery with Ambidexterity]

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Despite seeing its effects in action the other week Riyota seemed unable to replicate the events of his chakra absorption. "Test...37, annnnd go!" A hot red blast of fire from his mouth, directly towards his arm, results, moderate pain and light scarring, but no chakra absorbed back. He felt as normal as ever. Tapping his foot on the ground rapidly he attempted to theorise why the anatomical anomaly didn't seem to be functioning anymore. 'Does it have to be someone else's chakra? That could make sense but...I don't have anyone to test it with right now...'

His brow furrowed he sat back down and began poking and prodding at the flesh on his face and on his legs. No signs of any opening or anything. "Did I imagine it?" He asked no-one in particular. "No, I couldn't of...I remember the feeling vividly, it was like a supercharge to my chakra network..." He sighed and looked over his hand, both the back, and the palm.

"I guess it was just a random, one time thing." He sighed.

[Removing ability "Supercharge"]

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Standing back up from his defeated state he began pacing back and forth, trying to think of new solutions. 'Damn, that Chakra absorption could've been really handy in battle. If my body could've just ate some of the attack I wouldn't have to concern myself with defence so much...guess that isn't an option anymore.'

He rolled out one of his clanmates autonomous practice dummy prototypes. And stood in front of its dormant form. 'I need to be able to defend myself better, take hits in greater amounts than anyone else in Sand! Being able to attack won't too me any good if I get sliced to pieces, but it won't do them any good if they can't get through me...I don't need to overpower, I just need to outlast!' The epiphany realised, he lifted his head up and hit the button to activate the dummy.

He tried to imagine how he would defend himself with the new weapons he had devised. Letting a long sharp arm-bone make its way out of his left hand, he brought the appendage up to his face, whilst turning square on to the dummy. The clockwork construction did as it was programmed to, it began attacking the young shinobi relentlessly. In the early hours Riyota became beaten, bruised, scratched and bleeding. Yet over time he began to correct the flaws in his stance. Putting his feet in better positions. Holding his arm steadier, riposting and dodging quickly to avoid the beatings.

At the end of the day, as the civilians and the merchants concluded their business and returned home. The brown haired Shinobi had finished devising his perfect defence.

[Swapping Supercharge for Defensive technique]

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Following his hour long scuffle with the autonomous training dummy Riyota took some time to rest in the dimly lit training room within the dojo. Surprisingly, he hadn't felt the sudden surge of energy encompass him as he had in his fight the week prior. Holding his defence had slowly tired him out but he had not felt rejuvenated within those hours. Even if he didn't feel exhausted now. As it was his large amount of stamina and energy had sustained him, but it had not been resupplied at the time.

So he remained crouched, slowly getting his breath back and recuperating so that he could continue his training through the night. The deactivated dummy still slumped in front of him. Lying down on his back, he reminisced on how all these seemingly inherent abilities had begun to leave him, and how he had to adapt to make up for their loss. He pondered on how h-...

SLAM!

Narrowly dodging aside he looked to see his assailant. It appeared the dummy had somehow reactivated itself and was continuing with its combat protocols unexpectedly. "Crap...well I guess it is a prototype, suppose I'll have to note it down as a bug." He spoke out loud as he dodged another swipe from the rampaging clockwork.

[Removing ability "Adrenaline Rush"]

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Backing off from yet another strike from the dummy, Riyota needed to think of a plan of defence swiftly. Ducking his head out of the way of a punch by the clockwork monster he barely avoided having his skull cracked against the stone wall. "Ok, so reactivated...and its turned off its safety protocols...fabulous!" He complained to no-one in particular.

Dashing past it he searched for his weapon, trying to find where he discarded it earlier. Seeing no sign of it until he heard a familiar swooshing noise behind him. Standing up straight, not yet turning to face his opponent, he sighed. "Clever Girl..." Ducking under the swing of his greatsword, only barely avoiding losing the tip of his nose he extracted a makeshift bone weapon out of the top of his spinal cord as quickly as possible.

The next swing came, and he met it with his own, diverting it away and attempting to counterattack, but the robot was fast, it was designed that way. It swiftly swung for another strike which Riyota had to move awkwardly to deflect. The metal of his opponents weapon clanged against his bone and he felt the shock run up his arm. Punishment for his bad form.

The robot kept swinging at him, making it clear its directive was to kill. Every swing he deflected with one of his own. Over and over, until...

He deflected perfectly, a move even the robot couldn't immediately calculate a response to immediately. Following through while his foe was staggered, he sliced straight upwards and cut the clockwork figure in two. Not taking any chances in case it could survive without a head.

Speaking of heads, within his own Riyota could feel the echoing of a slow, sarcastic clap. "Wow, handled so professionally there. I can't believe you actually nearly lost to a training dummy!"

[Swapping "Adrenaline Rush" with "Deflection"]

 

[Miroku Riyota]

Riyota was brought back into the foggy depths of his mindspace. His alter ego looking grumpy, and certainly no longer asleep. "You are honestly the worst! You demand I provide you with extra power minus the activating the curse seal! And what do you do with it? Nearly get killed by a goddamn DUMMY!" The identical figure screamed. "HOW CAN YOU BE THAT TERRIBLE AT LIFE? DO HAVE SO MUCH POWER JUST GIVEN TO YOU, AND STILL FAIL!"

The other figure paced back and forth, looking almost like a distressed parent, but with far more malice behind their words. "I can't trust you to pilot this mind solo, you NEED me! You were better off when you were just the co-pilot!" Ayotir continued, causing Riyota to tut in response. "You agree though, really. You know that all those abilities that made you special as a child! They've gotten weaker recently, because you're suppressing me!" "You get enough leeway when I call on the curse seal!-" "THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" The figure screeched, disturbing the mists of Riyota's mind.

The two stood in silence for a few moments before Ayotir broke it. "You can forget about getting any more of the 'Hidden Power' until you relinquish control!" He threatened.

[Removing ability "Hidden Power"]

 

[Miroku Riyota]

"You're acting like a child!" Riyota yelled in response. "Screw you! You're acting like a child!" Ayotir spat back. "You ARE me you moron!" Riyota rolled his eyes, wondering if anyone else he knew had quite so literal arguments with their inner psyche. "Look, what's got you so worked up, what do you want from me?" He asked. "I want my body back!" "Damn it it's not your body anymore! MOVE ON!" He retorted, the tension rising within the space.

Shadowy figures would begin to appear around the the more sinister looking visage of Riyota and his gaunt expression would split into a grin. "You've got no claim to the body when your mind doesn't trust you?" The figures would leap forward towards the mental representation of Riyota and begin tag-team pummelling him. One after the other slamming ethereal fists into his form, disturbing the mists of his headspace further.

Eventually though, something had to give, and if the young shinobi knew one thing about himself. It was that he would never be the one to give. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" He shouted and immediately a loud boom erupted and the figures dispersed, returning back into the mists. My body is unbreakable and so shall my will be!" He told his other self, storming towards him and grabbing him by the shirt.

"I'll come get you when I need you." He spat, dropping Ayotir down into the depths of his own psyche. For now...

[Replacing "Hidden Power" with "Willpower]