IgoNewRefinement

In the stillness, however, the loose hairs of Igo's ponytail whipped and swayed too and fro with invisible gusts of air. "It starts out the same as Divine Wind, but instead of blasting the air away, you pull it in. It'll make the next wind or fire style jutsu you use a bit stronger, but you only have a few seconds to use it.[1]

Igo brought his hands up once more to perform a single ram seal again. He took a deep breath, crushed the air with his chakra, forming it into a single bullet, and then fired it off as hard as he could toward the cliff wall. It impacted with a loud crack and punched several feet through the sheer rockface, leaving a baseball-sized pockmark that ran deeper than his arm was long.[2]

"See?"

Yogan, Igo //The team makes their way to the bridge, Igo following close at their side. He scans carefully the forests and the fields surrounding them, but as Seiryu speaks up, Igo holds his a hand our, and calls for Kidame to stop.[3]

He motions toward the bridge with a nod, squinting his eyes and staring ahead, though he could barely make out anything except the shape of the structure, spanning the river. [4]

"Spread out a bit," he says quietly. It would not do to have his team taken out by one single area of effect jutsu. He walks over and stands next to Kidame, and then motions for them to continue forward. On they press, until they reach the entry to the bridge.[5]

Igo holds his hand out again, motioning for them to halt as the figure of a masked man, reading from a notebook and wearing a large, handled weapon of some sort. "Hello, friend!" Igo calls out his tone warm and welcoming, as though he were greeting an old pal. "What brings you out this way tonight?"[6]

Yogan, Igo 's brow furrows and a serious look comes over his face as the enemy bursts into action with enough speed that even Igo's eyes couldn't keep up with him. When the ninja slices a chunk of bridge and earth apart and flings in Seiryu and Jai's direction, he reacts on instinct.[7]

He takes a great deep breath, then exhales. An explosion of scorch chakra billows from his lips, burning blindingly bright pink and orange. The cloud envelops the object, and if he's successful in intercepting the attack before it could hit Jai, at worst, the young ninja would be pelted with ash and dust.[8]

His eyes narrow and he stares at their attacker, then he sighs.

"Wrong move, mate." he quips.

Yogan, Igo hopped up onto the ledge of the bridge and ran along it until he was parallel with the Harbinger and Kidame. His hands came together before him and he flew through 5 hand seals as quickly as he could. Then, he jumped down until he was located behind the enemy, next to the whole he'd created in the bridge.[9]

Igo's hands thrust forward as Kidame's punch swings through, and a blast of wind launches from his palms, attempting to knock into the masked man off his feet and send him flying off the bridge into the dirt and grass of the fields they'd passed through to reach him.[10]

[18 HSS on top bridge tho, and then 25 jutsu speed]

Yogan, Igo flinched as the blade of the scythe swung around toward Seiryu; his first instinct was to use whatever means necessary to put himself between the blade and his student... but it seemed to not be necessary. Despite the mean cut the blade had given him, reacted almost perfectly.[11]

In taking the blow, the young Uchiha had created an opportunity for himself; an opening to use his jutsu. A flash of red from his eyes told Igo he had done just that. Not wasting any time, Igo moved in tandem with Kidame, keeping pace with her until his feet touched the dirt.[12]

In that moment, however, Igo disappeared, sinking low into the ground in the blink of an eye. Using the potential genjutsu effect, and Kidame's own grapple to his advantage, Igo launched himself into the motions of the Headhunter Jutsu.  From the ground beneath Harbinger's feet, a gloved hand broke through the earth and attempted to grasp him by the ankle and yank him underground. With Kidame's strength combined with Seiryu's sharingan, he felt it should have been easy.[13]

If Igo's technique was successful, Harbinger would be pulled underground until only his head remained above the surface of the earth.

Yogan, Igo wastes no time. He grabs the scythe, tossing it into the dirt a few feet away. Then he pulls a pair of cuffs from his back pouch, reaches down, places a hand against the ground while the other hand grabs the man by the hair and pulls him out of the earth.[14]

After he slides out, should he remain limp, Igo cuffs him, arms behind his back. He steps back, takes a deep breath, then looks between the three. After a moment, a genuine smile crosses his lips, and he is beaming with pride at all three of them.[15]

"You guys... are fuckin' awesome." he says. Yogan, Igo: Kata, this is Igo, over. We've subdued our target, but he'd been infected by the Rinkaichu. How are things looking over there?[16]

Yogan, Igo 's eyes go wide as the figure vanishes in a puff of smoke, and for a moment, his head whips back and forth, searching for the enemy to reappear from some subtitution, or more clones.[17]

Instead, Katarina appeared from the north, standing there. Igo sighed, shaking his head. "Shoulda guessed it," he snorted, shaking his head. He'd look to the proctor and give her a smirk. "So then, how'd we do?" he asks.[18]

Yogan, Igo nods. To be expected. Tracking and information gathering had never been his strong suit. He thought back on the written portion of the chuunin exams. He grinned, however, as she finished grading him, nodding.[19]

He motioned toward each of them. "That's the goal, yeah? Make these guys stronger than I ever could be." Yogan, Igo smiles at Kidame, giving her a wink and a little shake of the head as if to say 'don't worry about it too much.'[20]

He'd then look to Jai and Seiryu, and motion for them to follow as he began to head back up the path. As he passed Katarina, he'd offer her a nod. "Careful.. dunno if you plan on staying out here, but if you do, be safe."[21]

Yogan, Igo turns to face Kidame with a thoughtful expression. "I think so. You guys work very well together, all things considered." Yogan, Igo catches the look in Kidame's eye, and he holds her gaze for a moment, quirking a brow. He turns to Kata. [22]

"Don't think I'm allowed to discuss the results, unfortunately, so you'll have to wait till Goju finishes his test to find out! Thanks for helping him out though. I appreciate it." He grins, but then turns back to Kidame. To him, it seemed like something was bothering her. "Oy, follow me," he says. "Lets go have a talk."[23]

Yogan, Igo leads her to the old Inuzuka pitch. It is quiet, and the evening sun casts golden rays and long black shadows over the dirt. He takes a long, deep breath, then turns to face her, relaxing. His eyes meet hers, and he watches her for a long time, trying to get a read on her thoughts.[24]

After a few long seconds, his face cracks, and his serious, thoughtful expression relaxes. His eyes turn inquisitive as he holds her gaze. "What's bothering you?" he begins. "Is it what the proctor said?"[25]

Yogan, Igo raises a brow, head tilting to the side as he considers her words. For a moment, he is quiet; lost in thought. Then, a few seconds later, he grins and shrugs. Yes, shrugs. He shakes his head, bringing his hand up, palms turned upwards as if to say 'oh well!' [26]

"Well, yeah... of course your bugs are dangerous and could be used against your teammates. But so could Jai's ninjutsu, Seiryu's sharingan, or my tailed beast!" He pauses, offering a friendly laugh. "That's what training and experience is for... so we can learn how to better control our own powers and abilities.[27]

Watch. Here, take your glove off and give me your hand." he asserts, taking his own glove off and holding his hand out to her. "Don't worry, just do it."[28]

Yogan, Igo takes her hand in his, holding it for a moment before letting go. He'd hold his hand up for a few seconds to display his skin, which was rapidly changing in color, becoming an almost perfect match for Kidame's skin. A cold, dull throb began to spread down his fingers, the pain growing more intense with each throb.[29]

Still, he stepped back and smiled at her. His gloved left hand comes up and meets his infected right one. They perform two hand seals. Then, a flash of brilliant, blinding pink-orange light envelopes his body for an instant. As soon as the cloak stabilizes, he draws it into his right hand.[30]

He holds his burning, blinding hand up and there is a faint sizzling sound as the Rinkaichu and their infection are slowly incinerated from him. When the hissing sound fades away, Igo releases the cloak, and the glowing light enveloping his right hand fades.[31]

"There were a few specific reasons I asked you to be on my squad, and one of them is because believe it or not, I'm probably the only person in the village who's compatible with your unique hiden abilities. Jai and Seiryu are both strong in their own rights, so you don't have to worry about them. But regardless, I'll help you develop your jutsu so that you don't have to worry about someone using them against us."[32]

-

closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Without opening his eyes, he drops down into a seating position. His legs cross beneath him, and he places his hands on each knee. He takes another deep breath, and then begins.[33]

It had been years since he'd resorted to his old meditation technique. One an old mentor by the name of Tonegi had showed him. Igo let his breathing slow and he began to count backwards from 100. As he did, he visualized himself 'falling' into his own conscious.[34]

It was an odd sensation at first. He hadn't mediated like this in years. The sensation of falling through a veil made up of his own thoughts was jarring now for some reason. Maybe it was because his mind was darkened by years of experience. [35]

Backward he continued to count. As he did, the deeper he imagined himself falling. In his minds eye, he could see his figure descending down a dark shaft. At both ends was a bright light.[36]

Beyond the 'walls' of the shaft he plummeted down, he could vaguely make out a large, dark antechamber. At one end loomed an enourmous prison cell. The cell door had since been opened, and the water that had one filled the cell almost to the ceiling now pooled over the floor of the chamber. In the middle of a chamber rested a giant, four-tailed ape with red fur.[37]

Goku stared back at him with an eyebrow quirked. There was a question in his eyes; one he didn't need to speak for Igo to pick up on. It had been years since Igo had needed to visit the tailed beast in his 'home'. What could bring him here now?[38]

Igo just smiled at the ape as he continued to fall. Eventually, he fell deeper into his conscious than the room the beast inhabited. When his descent finally slowed, he was in a very dark room. The only sound was the slight trickle of a running liquid somewhere in the dark.[39]

Surprisingly, the liquid that pooled over the floor here glowed with a slight blue ambience. In the spots where his ankles and legs were submerged, there was a slight tingle on his skin. Igo smiled; this place was a safe place. This was his "chakra pool" room.[40]

He slowly began to walk into the darkness. As he did, the faint blue glow of the pool began to grow brighter. He walked on, until finally he came to a spot in the room where the sound of running and dripping water originated from. A platform, slightly raised above the blue liquid.[41]

However, a glowing red liquid cascaded gently down over the platform from the invisible sealing above. The red liquid splashed over the surface of the white construct, and flowed over the edge into the blue charged liquid below. The waterfall of red created an almost perfect curtain around the platform.[42]

Igo made his way to it and stepped up and through the fall of warm red liquid. In the middle of the pedestal, he sat and took a pose similar to the one he held currently in the real world. He took a couple deep breaths, then brought his hands together before him. Then, he stared out into the surface of his chakra pool[43]

Here, at the edges of the raised platform, the glow of the red and the glow of the blue mixed together in some places and clashed in others. Swirls of red churned whirlpools of blue. Purple and white bubbles frothed and spat at the edges of the platform. Waves crashed into eachother, sending ripples in every direction throughout the pool.[44]

Igo smiled. For all the chaos here, there was a certain calm... a certain peace. Here, his chakra mixed and mingled with the chakra of the tailed beast he had allied himself with. The sensation was relatively new to him, and almost unsettling.[45]

In the past, when he'd meditated and came here, the red glowing liquid used to scare him. It burned and scalded his skin when he touched it. Now, as this was his first time 'back' to this 'place' in years, he found it oddly comforting. He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the gurgling bubbles and the lap of the ripples and waves created by the constant mix of energies.[46]

He sat there for a while, feeling his chakra surround him. He tested it, willing it too and fro, shaping it into different forms and agitating it into different states. It felt comforting to take a step back and review the basics once more. It was something he'd neglected in recent years. He'd promised himself to fix that.[47]

Some hours passes before Igo's eyes would open. When they did, they blinked slowly a few times, and then squinted into the light of the setting sun. He stood up carefully and stretched. Then, he took a deep breath and nodded once to himself.[48]

His hands shot up and came together before his chest. He created a hand seal, and then inhaled sharply. When he exhaled, a ball of green flames shot from his mouth and hovered before him for a moment. Then, it convulsed and began to vibrate. Finally, it expanded and took the shape of a human.[49]

In a bright, fiery flash, the elemental humanoid took the image of Igo. The two Igos nodded to each other, and they both took a few steps in the opposite direction. Then, they both took four deep breaths, and spun to face each other. Finally, their hands came together before them, and they smirked at one another.[50]

Clone Igo's hands flew through six seperate seals. When he finished, his hands were posed in the shape of the tiger seal. He inhaled a very large breath of air, and then threw his head forward. He spit eight small balls of quick-moving fire at the real Igo.[51]

The real Igo's hands flew through five seperate seals. His hands ended on the ram seal. As the clone's phoenix flower jutsus sped toward him, Igo thrust his hands out and released a torriential blast of air. The wind ripped sod off the ground and small limbs off the surrounding trees, and, while it embiggened the phoenix flower jutsus, turning them into hotter, angrier, more destructive projectiles, it knocked them off course.[52]

With a smirk, the real Igo followed this up by bursting forward with unusual speed for someone of his speciality. In a silvery flash, a blade had appeared in his hand. The clone could do nothing except feebly through his arms up as Igo brought the blade of his rusty tanto up drew it through the forearms and throat of the clone.[53]

Had it not been a clone, Igo's head would have rolled to the ground then and there. Instead, he disappeared in a poof and a puff of white smoke. Yogan, Igo is pulled along until they reach the circle of trees. When Setsuka asks about titles, Igo shakes his head, looks thoughtful for a moment, then shrugs.[54]

"You don' have too, but you can if you'd like. It's not really a big deal to me," he says. He crosses his arms, and gives each girl a long, inquisitive look. He squints his eyes for a moment at each, tilting his head. Finally, he nods.[55]

"Alrigh' so, what do you both know so far?" he asks. "Have you had any training prior to now? Or is this your first lesson?" When he stops, his arms fall back to his sides.[56]

's eyes went wide and he stared in shock for a brief instant before finally catching himself and looking away. The damage had been done; his cheeks were tinged bright red. He couldn't help but to grin stupidly at himself, and shake his head.[57]

"U-uh... not quite what I meant.. but uh... good trick." He said, chuckling. He averted his eyes, making extra effort to look each girl directly in the eyes. "So, I take it neither of you've had formal elemental training, then?"[58]

Yogan, Igo watches Setsuka and her clone, and he quirks a brow staring for a moment. 'Man, these leaf girls are frisky as shit. Why do they all gotta be lesbian though?' he thinks to himself, giving a sad shake of his head. Still, he inspects both of the girls' clones, and nods, shrugging.[59]

"Yeah, that's it, for the most part. Just keep practicing at it. It's a pretty easy tech to use, an' its pretty damn useful. Uh... next, then.." He gives his clone a look, and it nods, then disappears with a poof and a cloud of white smoke. Then, his hands come together before him again, forming a single tiger seal.[60]

He turns and faces toward the threes to the south, taking a deep breath. He draws the air into his belly, then forces his chakra into it, agitating and churning the energy with sheer willpower and practiced control. When it felt as though his chest would burst from the chakra, he finally exhaled.[61]

A gout of green flames shot from him, roaring loudly as the flames sputtered against the wind. It struck the trunk of one of the trees, and he sustained it for a moment longer before finally, it ended. When he stopped, small green flames flickered and ate at the patches of dead grass underfoot, and the trunk of the tree had been thoroughly blackened and embrittled.[62]

"The Flamethrower technique is one of the most basic fire techniques of all. You make one hand seal; the tiger seal. Then you draw the air into your lungs and force as much of your chakra into it as you can. Push and pull at the chakra until  it feels as hot as you can possibly stand. When it feels like your chest is gonna explode, let it out. Simple as that." Yogan, Igo nodded to Nanao, giving her a proud look.[63]

"Nice. We'll let Setsuka learn this one, then," he says. He turns his gaze to Setsuka and watches her as she performs the technique. Before he can catch himself, his eyes wonder from her face, downward, toward her chest and midriff.[64]

He catches himself, then turns his eyes upward again, in time to see her perform the technique. He nods at her, grinning. "Nice job." he commends her. He walks over to them, and then brings his hands together again before his chest, then glances in their direction.[65]

"Alright, this'll be the last fire technique for the night. It's the Phoenix Flower Jutsu. It's a little more complicated than the last two, but it's a good technique to practice chakra control with. There are six hand seals to this one..." he pauses, and his hands begin to slowly perform each hand seal. His variation of the technique's seals went like this: tiger, serpent, ram, dragon, bird and then finally, tiger again.[66]

When he finished, he held the final hand seal, and began speaking once more. "Next, you draw air into your lungs, like before. You push chakra into it, and then you imagine yourself compressing it into a bunch of tiny little pong-sized balls. While you're doing that, you're pulling and pushing at the chakra, to make it build up heat. It's a little tricky, but it's not impossible. You just gotta focus. After that, you spit them out."[67]

To demonstrate, Igo took a deep breath, his chest expanded, and then a moment later, a barrage of small, glowing green balls of flame erupted from his mouth and flew at high speeds, impacting an entire line of trees. There were small black impact marks on each tree where the balls hit. "See?"[68]

Yogan, Igo watched them again, Setsuna first this time. He watched her fly quickly through his seals and then drawing her chakra in. He was rather impressed; her understanding of the natural element was rather sharp. He nodded to her, then smirked as she commented on its difficulty. "Wouldn' go that far, luv. There's many more fire jutsu that are a lot more difficult than that."[69]

He watches Nanao, next, and nodded each time she perservered through her failed attempts. Finally, she succeeded, and he smiled at her. "Great job, both of you. That's three useful fire jutsu. Now you can't say you don't know any combat techniques, Setsuka," He says teasingly, smirking at her. "Sounds good, though. We can do the wind lessons some other time."[70]

Yogan, Igo nods.

"Alrigh' then. So, to begin with, we'll start off with the Blistering Bullet jutsu. This is a technique that puts the more complex elements of two different jutsus, the wind release: air bullet technique, and the fire style: fire dragon bullet technique. You are combining your high pressure wind chakra with your high temperature fire temperature until it feels like an entire sun burns inside you. It'll be /much/ hotter than fire.[71]

Igo paused, inhaling as his hands came together before him, forming the tiger seal. "Then, you compress it into a bullet or a tiny ball, and you either spit it out, or channel it into your hand, and shoot it out that way."[72]

Igo took a sharp breath and drew the air into his belly, and then smashed his two chakra typed into it with extreme force until the sensation was just as he described; the burning of an entire solar body inside of him. He thrust his scarred right hand out in the shape of a finger gun, and a blindingly bright ball of pink-orange-white scorch chakra shot from his index finger and impacted a tree across the arena. When the smoke cleared, there was a scorched, blacked hole punched clean through the trees trunk.[73]

Yogan, Igo grins as he takes the blade by the scabbard. He spends a long moment admiring the craftsmanship on the hilt; running a finger along the red silk, and staring at his reflection in the polished gold pomel.[74]

He undoes his belt and then pulls a scroll out of his vest pockets. He unravels it, places it on the ground, then undoes the tanto from his belt. He places the older blade on the scroll, and then makes a single hand seal, more for concentration than the execution of a jutsu.[75]

The tip of his right index finger begins to glow blue, and his hand falls until the tip of his finger hovers an inch away from the tanto. Then, he begins to trace the sign for his lotus seal. In the air above the scroll and the scabbard of the sword, a blue kanji glowed.[76]

Ink spilled downward from the glwoing, hovering seal, covering the scabbard and marking the parchment of the scroll. Then it began to smoke, and the ink began to pull the tanto down, /into/ the scroll. A hissing noise filled the square, and with a poof and small cloud of white smoke, the tanto had disappeared. In its place was the shape of a lotus flower, missing three of its petals and surrounded by Igo's own personal sealing formula.[77]

He nodded once, grinning to himself as he quickly rolled the scroll close and then replaced it in his vest pocket. Then, he slid his belt throught the loops on his new blade's scabbard, and fixed it back around his waist. Next, he slowly drew the blade and stared at it in awe.[78]

"Beautiful peice, mate." Igo comments to Shakax. He lunches forward once, and draws it in a sharp line before himself. When he'd finished, he would grin, then turn to Shakax, smile, and nod. "Thanks, mate." [79]

pushed himself off the bench. He waved, then made his way up to the northwestern arena and walked around the sound of the testing facility. He glanced past the fence toward Miu and Somen, quirking a brow for a moment before looking away. He shrugs once, then turns to face toward the southern fence. [80]

He closed his eyes, and then his breathing slowed. He turned his focus inward and began to pool his chakra into his entire body. He increased the flow until he felt that he had enough excess. Then, he flooded it all with his wind and fire chakras.[81]

The energy 'ignited' all at once with the intensity of a burning sun, and then he forced it back into his chakra networks. To describe the sensation as intense was a very big understatement. A burning sensation spread through him and he felt his body begin to vibrate from an enormous pressure built up within him.[82]

It was almost as if things moved in slow motion. Almost, but not quite. His chakra was speeding up his reaction time and enhancing his muscles and movement. Igo grinned to himself, and then opened his eye.[83]

His right hand; the one bearing the Marks of Zinkai and Solomon, went to the hilt of his new blade, and he drew it slowly from its scabbard. The expertly crafted iron sung as it rid along the oiled leather of the inner sheathe. Finally, he took it in a much more practiced, comfortable grip than he'd used in recent weeks, and his grin became a smirk.[84]

When he moved, it was faster than he ever had in his before in his life; save a jutsu. No, this time, the movements were all his. He burst forward, and drew his blade across in a horizontal slash. The blade moved in a blur not even his eyes could keep up with.[85]

He spun back around and faced back the way he came. This time, he held the blade to his side with the tip pointing toward an imaginary enemy. Then he moved, he moved even faster than he had before. He thrust the blade forward toward the imaginary enemy's invisible hands just as they brought them together to form seals.[86]

There was a silent cry of pain as nonexistant blood dripped down his sword and four invisible fingers fell to the ground beneath him. Igo grinned feircely, and swiped the sword upward toward the bottom of the imaginary enemy's chin. Alas, it was a true strike.[87]

He stepped back, and thrust forward again. He drew the blade up diagonally across his midsection. The blade sung as it sliced through the air. A smile grew on his lips.[88]

Finally, he stopped testing his swordplay out. Her turned back toward the southern fence and sheathed the blade. Then, his eyes closed again, and he took a deep breath. 'You ready?' he thought. There was a deep rumble, like excited laughter from somewhere deep inside him.[89]

|***Thought you'd never ask!***| answered a voice. Igo grinned, and his eyes opened. Then, he lurched forward. The transformation was always uncomfortable. He grit his teeth but kept his eyes open through the experience. [90]

A shroud of deep red, bubbling energy began to seep out of his skin and envelop him. It let out deep, gurgling, bubling sounds as it more of it bubbled out of him, surrounding his body. His body spasmed as several of his bones cracked and reformed themselves.[91]

His muscles expanded in throbbing waves. A deep red fur split his skin, covering his face and his arms the sides of his face. his back and chest, down his arms, and down the backs of his forearms and hands. Finally, a single tail formed out of the cloak behind him.[92]

"*Time to go ape shit!*" Igo and Son Goku said together. They burst forward with a loud roar, and launched themselves into a large group of enemies. They slammed their fist into the ground beneath them, and the earth cracked. They imagined scattering a few of the ~insects~, so they burst forward after one.[93]

He launched into a punch-spin kick combo that collapsed imaginary foe #2's chest. Next, he turned and dodged an invisible blade aimed for his head, and spun around with his foot, slamming his heal into pretend enemy #3's neck. He went flying. He knocked into ghost bad guy #4 and they both crumbled.[94]

Next, noting Seiryu's position, he lept backwards, so as to avoid catching him in any crossfire. When he landed, he brought his hands together. They flew through seven hand seals. The next instant, the air in a large area around Igo had grown so hot there was a faint glow to it.[95]

They stood there, in the devastating heat of their jutsu until it faded away a minute later. When it did, a small grin spread over their lips. |***Not too shabby, for a whiney little brat with a sob story,***| Son said to Igo, and their eyebrows raised. It was the first compliment the beast had ever given him.[96]

The fur receded, and, after a few uncomfortable looking fits of his muscles literally shrinking, and bones breaking and repairing themselves, he looked himself again. He closed his eyes once more, focusing on releasing the trapped scorch chakra from his body.[97]

He brought his hands together and formed the ram seal, and, in a torrent of scorching hot wind and air, the chakra escaped his body. He sighed, and let his hands fall. When he opened his eyes, he looked up to the sky, and grinned.[98]

He had, indeed, come a long way since that fateful day in the land of stone, when his former owner had forced the beast inside him to begin with. To think, back then, he couldn't even do a single jutsu, let alone contemplate having a tailed beast inside of him. He chuckled, shaking his head. He had come a very long way.[99]

Igo let his head fall back and looked across the field. He smiled again, and turned his attention inward. 'Not bad for a grumpy old monkey with a nasty disposition, either,' He thought back. There was a rumble. Son chuckled and gave him the equivalent of a mental fistbump.[100]