Keotsu waits quietly amidst an empty wheat field, the night-time sky clear and with stars glimmering brightly in the velvet sheet above, their golden light giving ample illumination to the surrounding area.
He was waiting on a dear friend that he had not seen in some time, in hopes of once more sharing what little knowledge he had with the person.
Near saw no stars as he made his silent approach. With stiff hands and clenched teeth, he could do no more than stand before his master as each stream of words that began to surface in him was flushed down with the crashing waves of heavy breath.
This felt so very different from the day they met on the river. Bright eyes that craved every morsel that might have lain in the cracks of the enticing world around them had grown acute, but were now clouded by the dense atmosphere of this meeting as they did their best to digest a visage they feared might not be present to sooth their imminent soreness for some time.
The sight of his old friend's familiar smile brought a swell of good memories and without realizing, Near had temporarily left the gravity of the scene behind and was returning the gesture, speaking with slight difficulty through a wide smile and a small chuckle.
"Far too long. It's so incredibly good to see you again, Keotsu."
Despite the sheer joy of seeing his long lost friend again, Keotsu quickly steeled himself, his face sombering as he recollected his thoughts.
He chuckled. Near knew of the Prayers. Of the Angels. Of the Symphony.
And soon, a fireworks festival.
Prayers, Angels, symphonies, and fire work festivals. Keotsu half-wondered if he was a cliche romance novel, deep down.
"Ah, yes...Perhaps it will be best if we get the unpleasantness out of the way first? We have a while ahead of us, and I'd hate to ruin a good mood later by putting these matters off.
Near, I gave you some special exploding tags in the past, did I not?"
The sudden change of expression caused Near's smile to fade as he studied his teacher's face, unsure of what might be going on in his head. This scrutiny ended abruptly with another infectious gesture, a chuckle that left Near with a renewed grin as he heeded Keotsu's words. He nodded and very quickly moved his hand to a pouch on his hip, pausing for a moment as he realized how easily he had returned to the role of the eager pupil, letting out another small, nostalgic chuckle.
"Yes, I have them here. I've carried them ever since."
As Near's eyes lit up, and he then proceeded to pat his pouch at his hip, Keotsu nodded, pleased. That would make things move much quicker, since it cut out a lot of redundant information.
"What I have to show you today...deals very little with chakra, or ninjutsu, or anything of the sort. As I told you when I gave you those exploding tags, technology seems to fall by the wayside in battle, when you can spew fireballs out of your mouth. However, a little ingenuity goes a long way.
I, after some experimentation with exploding tags, found out that you could basically roll a few of them into marble sized spheres with a pretty low explosive yield. Offensively, with regular exploding tags, they have very little use; they're more strategic in nature.
Normally, simply being a rolled ball of paper, you wouldn't be able to throw it very far due to it's low mass. However, a bit of chakra remedies that, and you can toss it about as far as you could a regular softball. Couple that with the fact that the tiny marble has a decent explosive radius, and it can really be used to mess with your opponent. And, considering the very small amount of chakra you have to coat each orb with, it works best in groups of three, meaning you can throw the orbs with slight time delays, to work to your advantage.
It kinda reminds me of Flame Alchemy, from a manga I once read," laughed Keotsu, as he stuck his hands in his pockets, and withdrew one of the marbles in question.
Throwing the marble into the night sky, it exploded with a small pop, leaving a quick flash of red in the air.
"However, take those marbles, and make them out of our super-tags, which have an explosive yield that's ten times bigger, and suddenly, they become a MASSIVE threat to the enemy."
(Hanabi Taikai) Firework Festival
Rank: C
Type: Offensive
Range: Throw: Short-Long | Explosion: Short-Mid
Chakra Cost: 15
Damage: 10 each (x3)
Description: The user will throw three balls of rolled up explosive notes that are the size of regular marbles (exploding balls hereafter referred to as marbles), after infusing them with chakra; this chakra coats the marbles and allows them to be thrown a greater distance than the marbles would otherwise be capable of reaching, due to their extremely low mass and weight. Due to their small size, and the lack of a kunai to give away their position, these become a viable option in battle, as they are harder to see. Not only that, but each marble can be detonated individually at the user’s command, like regular exploding tags, allowing the marbles to be used for strategic purposes, due to their explosive radius. The damage is caused solely by the explosive tags; the chakra does not amplify the damage in anyway, and is simply used to throw them greater distances.
Heeding Keotsu's explanation and carefully considering how to form a sphere out of paper, Near begins formulating his approach to crafting such a structure and how to best utilize his chakra in aiding their movement through the air.
As Keotsu breaks the fourth wall, Near nods and smiles, seeing the similarity before abruptly turning to his side to gaze up into the faces of those that might be reading whatever mode of story that they themselves could very well exist in as fictional figures. A sudden popping sound and a bright flash from above snapped Near back into reality, nearly causing him to fall backward before righting himself, flustered.
"I, uh.."
Near decided that he'd just focus hard on reflecting on all that he'd observe, making it look too intensive to interrupt with questioning of what he had previously been doing. With the image of the round shape he'd barely caught a glimpse of just before in mind, retrieved a few tags from his pouch and knelt to the ground so as to use his lap as a workspace. Using what very, very basic knowledge he had of origami, he began to try to fold them together into a hollow spherical structure with each tag making up an identical part of the shape. After a few awkward minutes, he emerged with a crude and crumpled ball, taking a moment to admire his work.
Taking the shoddy mess into one hand, he focused a minute amount of chakra into it, infusing it into the paper in such a way that it would result in a slightly more weighted feel. Looking to the sky, he closed his hand before sliding a foot backwards, leaning back on it while raising his arm beside his head with the other extended forward to keep balance, all in a fluid motion. Then, with significant physical exertion, he swung his arm forward, releasing his hand at such a time that the angle of travel would be a rather steep incline, very basically and momentarily manipulating the chakra within the sphere to provide a kind of "pushing" force, greatly furthering it's ascension. As it appeared to reach the peak of it's upward motion, he used what chakra that might remain in the ball to attempt to detonate, hoping for the best.
As Near nealt down and began fumbling with the paper to make a sphere, Keotsu felt like he should chime in a piece of information that he doubted Near needed to hear, but felt needed to be spoken anyways.
"Obviously, these things would be a pain to roll during battle, so I recommend keeping a pouch of premade ones on you, much like you would ninja tools."
Then, letting Near work in peace, he watched as the boy finished his handiwork, and was left with a rough sphere. When he then threw the sphere into the air, Keotsu watched...
As the sphere reached it's apex, it bloomed in a blossom of incredible fire and force, sending a tremendous shockwave through the air; felt even so far away on the ground below. Such was the power of the festival stars when used with the super-tags.
Keotsu couldn't help but smile as the fireball in the air faded away, and the light dimmed as quickly as it had bloomed.
