Kotetsu's plan at first was simple. Find a lot of Asuras, make them do something cool, break out of the barrier, and punch the matriarch in the nose. He thought that maybe he could direct the Asuras or something, give them a good smack on the head, and lead them to charge into the barrier maybe. That was the plan. And he thought it was a good plan, if he ignored one little detail.
The Asuras were dead set on doing one thing only: eating him.
A pair of tusks swept by Kotetsu's eye with inches to spare. He leapt in the vain attempt to regain distance, but the fleshy wall of boars continued to advance on him. Once again, crags of ebony found their way into his back and elbows. The Asuras bored in from all sides. He was out of time.
Kotetsu was left with no other choice.
The last time he truly used Fire release felt so long ago now. Back during his one-sided duel with Keina, it was the only real usage of Chakra he had. He didn't know if his various improvements in Chakra control would provide any major benefits or radical changes to his Chakra nature, but he was eager to use it anyway. After his little incident with the fire seal the previous day, he realised how much he missed using his element, despite his initial disappointment after discovering it all those years ago.
So with little fanfare, he weaved his hands into the correct signs. He decided to use his modified fire pulse as a base, and expel the flames from his arms. He was a little wary of how to approach the elemental jutsu, so he fell back on old habits and imagined pure sunlight. His new senses let him intimately feel the flow of Chakra through his body, and guide it exactly as he wanted. Before this, he could only vaguely feel the flow of elemental Chakra, and close or widen that flow. Without much thought, he poured in the same amount of Chakra as he usually would, feeling the familiar drain on his total Chakra pool, and thrust his arms- and the jutsu forward.
For a brief second, nothing happened. The Chakra left his arms, but it was as if the elemental transformation was delayed, or disrupted. However, it only lasted a moment, as the world turned bright orange immediately after.
Kotetsu's body was crushed between a jet of pure heat and the unforgiving ebony wall. The incoming boars had it much worse. Those that were unfortunate enough to lead the charge found themselves trapped in a sudden inferno, absorbing the brunt of the attack with their massive bodies. The roar of the flames was deafening. The burst of sudden heat only lasted for a few seconds, but it was enough to leave several unsuspecting Asuras as charred corpses.
The sounds following the blaze were just as loud, as cries and squeals of pain filled the space in between. Over one hundred blackened hooves stomped the ground in a panicked frenzy, the Asuras unable or unwilling to comprehend the danger that just blanketed their territory.
Meanwhile, Kotetsu stood trying to understand what the hell just happened.
"I only put a little bit of Chakra into it…"
He stared down at his arms and hands, which were red from the excess heat. He was still propped up against the ebony wall, but he barely felt a tingle as his willpower easily withstood the pressure. The boars completely ignored him now as they fought each other in a blind riot.
"Why was it… so powerful…"
Even half a minute after the jutsu, he could still feel leftover heat that had been absorbed by the surrounding environment. But more than that, for the first time, he could truly feel the aftermath of his own technique. The moment the fire left his body, it was no longer a disconnected flame. In those few seconds, he felt it when his fire impacted the wall of boars, their shape, and their attempts to disregard his willpower.
"They targeted my willpower… they tried to destroy it specifically…"
Kotetsu's mind raced with new ideas and concepts from the experience. Thanks to the study lessons that Kouga had endured, Kotetsu now understood some crucial aspects of Asuras. Such as the fact that they evolve through a process known as sheddings. The act of shedding itself was a symbol of growth, age, and evolution. In the first two sheddings, an Asura found its root, the source of concepts that serve to shape the foundation of its power. For the third and fourth shedding, an Asura grew more distinct, separate from others in the abilities it could employ.
For Asuras, there were certain concepts intrinsically tied to their natures, not required to be gained through sheddings. One of these was the natural resistance of Chakra, and perhaps willpower as well. For Kotetsu's purposes, he just needed to understand this innate resistance, which he vaguely understood even before this. But now, he knew something even more specific.
That specific something was what drove Kotetsu's new revised plan. And for that new plan, he would need to borrow something from the Asuras. The rampant havoc continued to play out in the background while he considered his next steps. In order to get out of this mud pit, he would likely need to beat every single Asura present.
Cracking his knuckles and flashing a dirt-covered smile, he got to work.
—
It was a catastrophe. Something Mutsue had not even considered would be an option. How could something like that even be possible? Especially with all of their precautions, techniques, expertise, and sheer power. How on earth did that damned child use elemental jutsu, when the barrier itself worked to nullify all attempts?
One of Mutsue's eyes began to uncontrollably twitch. It wasn't a seal, that much she could sense. She had seen the boy outright hold a shard of ebony, which by itself was bizarre, but not unheard of. Resistance to Asuras was a known ability of the Cinders, so it was not a surprise. But, even then…
"...That should not be possible."
Touma's quiet voice broke Mutsue from her stupor. She turned to look at him.
"Is the outer barrier operating at full function?" She snapped at him.
Touma didn't immediately respond as he appeared deep in thought, but he nodded after a few seconds.
"I tested the function myself earlier today. It successfully suppressed several attempts at creating any basic elemental technique."
It was as Mutsue feared, especially when her own senses confirmed the outer seals worked just fine. She still asked Touma in the vain attempt to justify what she had seen. The boar pits were covered by two barriers; one that was purely defensive, and another that served many auxiliary functions. The defensive barrier stood facing inward to the pit, blocking all passage both in and out, while the auxiliary barrier stood outside, serving as repair, recharge, and other tasks.
One of those tasks was the nullification of all basic elemental Chakra within its boundary. Of course, it could not fully target those with powerful Chakra, such as herself, her daughter or Touma. However, even her daughter would face some trouble with using any of the basic elements. That was not the case for Wood release, of course, as the function of the pit was to encourage those within to awaken the bloodline.
For that boy- for Kotetsu, it appeared as if he suffered no ill effects from using his ninjutsu. As it so happened, the damned barrier only seemed to delay him slightly. She seethed through gritted teeth.
"How?"
But the answer came to her a moment later.
Mental energy. It was the only thing that potentially made sense. It was the only difference she knew of, at least for now, that could possibly explain whatever the hell happened down there. Was it a technique to disregard nullification entirely? Or was it simply just a result of overpowering the nullifying effect? Several other questions raced through her mind as she worked through the situation.
Mutsue has lived for a long time, seen many extraordinary things, achieved many goals, and discovered many secrets that some would spend their whole lives learning. For several years after the loss of her sisters, she had hit a dead end, a ceiling. She didn't know what to do anymore, and the ones that were supposed to help her and the clan were forever vague. The immortal tree that now held her ancestors offered many benefits, but also many traps.
But right here, right now, a way to achieve her goal was revealing itself. Questions of great interest filtered into her mind, filling her with a sense she had not felt in many years. Vigour and curiosity were brought forth as, finally, she felt true passion.
And then the boy broke a boar's tusks with his bare hands, causing it to wail in distress, right before his foot slammed into its head to send it flying in the opposite direction.
"...What?"
—
Kotetsu had to move fast. But not too fast. He needed just the right amount of precision and strength to properly snap the tusks from each boar's face, without damaging the face itself or shredding the tusk. Even then, he couldn't just rush from boar to boar, ripping away their black tusks haphazardly. First, he needed to prime them; attack them with Chakra, get them to focus on targeting his willpower or whatever, to 'attack' him back.
He accomplished this through a variety of methods, but his favourite by far was to spurt out a little bit of fire right before landing in front of them, giving the boar a scare and alerting it to his presence. Then, it was just a matter of getting his hands in the right spot, applying some pressure, twist and pull.
CRACK.
One tusk fell apart in his hand while the other remained mostly whole. It wasn't a foolproof method, but he was getting the hang of it more and more. After retrieving his new bauble, he proceeded to press it firmly against his body and, with a flex of Chakra, held the new tusk in place. Holding the ebony tusks with his Chakra took some extra force, but as long as he didn't lose track of the willpower within his Chakra hooked in the tusk, it would stay in place. Even with the tusks being extra aggressive against his Chakra due to the Asura's targeting, he could still mostly handle it.
With swift movements, he acquired another handful of tusks, bringing his total up to 15. He wasn't sure how many he would need exactly, as he was mostly going off of a general feeling. He decided he would stop at 25, maybe. That did mean he would need to de-tusk over half of the local boar population, assuming he didn't break any more tusks.
Kotetsu's plan was simplistic. Using his soul sight, he had seen that there were two… 'bubbles' covering the boar pits, layered over one another. The innermost one was extremely strong, and clearly what stopped him from jumping out of the pit earlier. The outermost one was weird, in that it didn't really seem to do anything at first glance.
But as he ran through the trenches and tunnels, he noticed a few subtle effects. Since all he could see was willpower, much of his planning was based on assumptions helped along by information that Rata and Touma had given him. The two barriers seemed to occasionally fluctuate in 'brightness', or density, or something. When the inner barrier darkened, the outer barrier would darken in turn, before the inner barrier returned to its previous glow. To him, that seemed like the outer barrier was recharging the inner barrier.
This idea was helped along when he spotted a series of connections between the barriers. The darkening and subsequent glow occurred in sync with willpower pouring in through these connections, which he figured was attached to Chakra. The outer barrier would return to its glow after a short time too, telling him that the outer barrier was being actively charged, perhaps.
When Kotetsu entered the boar den, he checked the surrounding walls for connection points. As it turned out, there were at least 20, maybe 30. The next step involved the realisation he'd had earlier. Asuras had the ability to direct their power, obviously. This direction came in many forms, but for the boars, they tended to strengthen or harden themselves against whatever attacked them.
So, when Kotetsu attacked them, he made them target his Chakra to destroy it. It made their bodies much more effective than the ebony that sat everywhere, which only passively destroyed Chakra. In essence, the Asuras primed their tusks to attack Kotetsu's Chakra, which he planned on using to attack the barrier in turn. He hoped that the targeting effect worked on all Chakra, and not just his specifically. It wasn't a perfect plan, and he was mostly relying on information from his father's memories and some bits of information from his few lessons in seals.
But somehow, even with all of the uncertainties, he couldn't see himself failing.
"HUP!"
Another pair of tusks were acquired with a swift clasp and quick rip, bringing his total up to 21. It wasn't exactly a pretty sight, but he was sure the boars would be fine. As it happened, there wasn't really a difference between the tusks of first and second shedding Asuras. He figured they must be focusing on other things like muscular strength, or speed.
Placing the two new tusks on his legs, he locked them in place with a thought before returning to his brutal task. The boars were beginning to catch on to what was happening, but it was far too late to try and escape or fight back at this point. In just another half minute, he acquired the last few tusks, bringing his total to 25.
He held the last two tusks firmly in both hands, inspecting their smooth marble-like appearance. They were warm to the touch, and fresh black blood dribbled from the broken ends. To Kotetsu, it felt like the tusks were angrily trying to vibrate out of his grasp. It took much more effort to restrain them than it did when holding the ebony pebble earlier, but it was still in his relative ability to withstand.
"These'll work just fine…"
By now, most of the boars were either placated, hiding, or had run away. Only one boar in the entire den seemed completely undisturbed, having been exempt from the entire ordeal on a single basis. It didn't have any damned tusks. Or at least, none that were worth taking, as only two small nubs existed on its snout. And this boar, as it turned out, was the one that thwarted his hunger all those days ago. Kotetsu jeered with exaggeration, hocking a loogie vaguely in its direction. Then, for good measure, he kicked some rocks toward it. Both the spit missile and rocks missed by a large margin.
It continued to eat on the berry bushes in the corner. Strangely enough, it seemed like none of the other Asuras dared encroach on its zone, even with Kotetsu's rampage.
"…Huh."
It wasn't any of Kotetsu's business. After confirming his bounty from the poor Asuras, he focused his soul sight toward the rim of the den he was in. He couldn't exactly see the seals that made up the outer barrier, but he didn't need to. He just needed to find those connections. Spinning, he caught the transferral of Chakra at just the right moment as dozens of connections lit up.
With his goal in sight, he began to prepare for the next step of his grand plan. He would need to be fast, as he was sure that the moment he started, the Senju outside would try to stop him. He hoped that his method for breaking out of the barrier would prove fruitful, but he felt confident. So with enough stalling, he jumped toward the nearest connection.
Kotetsu didn't wait for an invitation. Taking the tusk in his right hand, he stabbed forward with plenty of power, intent on digging the tusk like a spike as deep as possible just below the rim of the pit. His objective at that moment was simply to see what effect the tusk would have, and if his plan was plausible.
To his delight, the tusk penetrated the barrier, sinking up to halfway. That delight lasted approximately two seconds before his attack was forcibly rebuffed. At the moment of penetration, the barrier flashed to his soul sight, before he felt a wave of resistance physically push the tusk out of the inner barrier.
"Shit…"
Kotetsu didn't know how much time he had to finish his plan, but the tusk failing to remain penetrated threw him for a loop. Was the tusk unable to target the barrier's Chakra? Or was it simply too weak against the barrier? If it was the latter, then he was out of luck. He didn't know what to do for a whole ten seconds, until an idea slammed into place.
"OH!"
With his soul sight, he quickly inspected the boar tusk again. The only other time he had looked at the tusk with his sight was upon first claiming them, mostly to make sure they retained the Asura outline, or spirit, which they did. This time however, he looked for a specific effect he had dismissed as a curiosity before, but now wondered at its intent. As he looked, the tusk's black outline undulated in a similar fashion to the boars and the ebony rocks, but it did something else as well. The outline seemed to flow toward his hand, his fingers, and any place where his skin met the tusk.
With a hopeful curiosity, he dropped the tusk completely. When he did, the outline ceased to flow, now just looking like an ordinary piece of ebony. Upon picking it up again, the outline did not flow again.
"...Uh… crap."
He was pretty sure it was broken. Seeing as the amount of willpower he used had diminished by, like, three times, he knew its Chakra-targeted destruction effect was gone. It was just some boring old ebony now. He dropped the tusk in disgust, but his idea was still valid.
"If it needs to have constant contact with Chakra, then…"
Using the tusk from his left hand, he moved back to the barrier. He didn't know how fast the tusk's effect would be lost, but he didn't plan on letting that matter in the slightest. Instead, he grasped both ends of the tusk, his left hand on the base and right hand on the tip. He pictured a bubble of Chakra exiting his right hand's fingertips, and imagined the energy sticking to the tusk's sharp end. Without taking his hands off of the bubble, Kotetsu focused on the willpower.
"Stay… put…"
Slowly, carefully, he removed his fingers one by one. One thing that remained true, even days later, was that distance seemed to diminish his control over willpower. He needed the extra willpower to remain steadfast, to become the barrier between his Chakra and the ebony. He needed it to be unyielding. He didn't quite understand why the ebony destroyed his Chakra, yet his willpower seemed fine, but he would figure it out later. With bated breath, he removed the last finger from the Chakra… and it remained.
"Oh… yeah!"
Strangely, he could still 'feel' the willpower and Chakra. He felt the strain as his willpower continued to hold back the ebony tusk. He wasn't sure how long it would last, so he moved. Flashing forward, he once again shoved the tusk through the inner barrier, its Chakra coated edge piercing straight through to the other side. Then, with his mental connection to the Chakra, he willed it to remain stuck in place, to anchor itself in the dirt between the two barriers.
There was a flash in his soul sight, and… the tusk stayed. He felt no resistance through his left hand, which still held the tusk-turned-spike. Feeling anxious, he removed his hand quickly only to see the tusk remain in place, which left a goofy smile splitting Kotetsu's face. The tusk's outline now flowed into the barrier, which glowed with a pulse as it attempted to expel the ebony intruder. However, Kotetsu's Chakra pulled the spike forward, keeping it entrenched, nullifying the inner barrier's force. He felt enough relief at that moment to celebrate.
"YEEE-"
"WHAT?!"
The screeching voice from somewhere above caused Kotetsu to freeze mid-celebration.
Suddenly, he had the odd feeling he should get to work. And fast.
—
Mutsue thought that nothing else could surprise her at that point. From the boy handling ebony, to using elemental ninjutsu, to terrorising a pit full of monstrous Asura boars, even to somehow holding their tusks in place on his body. However, his latest accomplishment had caused a headache to bloom at the base of her skull.
"He… can make Chakra attach… to ebony?"
She knew, logically, that she could end this. One word, one action is all it would take to stop him. Yet… for some reason, she felt like she wouldn't. The mere fact that he could make the absolute opposite energies stay together was disturbing. However, that was not even the worst offence, as a mere moment later he got the damnable tusk to remain stuck in the defensive barrier.
"WHAT?!"
She stormed over to the edge of the den heart. Her daughter stood some distance away with Touma's boy, watching the scene below with their own faces of astonishment. Mutsue knew she likely should stop whatever was happening, but some part of her wanted to let the event play out. She wanted to see the result. She wanted to see everything the young Cinder had to offer.