Flower Tao

**Flower Tao** (花タオ, *Hana Tao*) is a type of Tao that grants immediate healing and a form of immortality to a living being.

## Overview

Regeneration of Flower Tao heals one's injuries instantly and usually responds immediately without any conscious effort on the possessor's part. The regeneration heals all kinds of damage inflicted, from being burned by fire, infected with toxic poison, punctured wounds or small cuts, to severed limbs, and even decapitation. This essentially makes beings with Flower Tao immortal as no amount of damage inflicted can kill them. It is also possible for them to intentionally delay the healing.

Flower Tao is only known to reside within a special species of flowers called the Waitanhua Flower and a substance called Tan on the island of Kotaku, all of which were created by Lord Tensen for the purpose of having humans experience a metamorphosis called Arborification where they bloom flowers from their body and enter into a blissful trance. One of the members, Mu Dan, possessed his own brand of Arborification when entering his Kishikai where he uses flower stingers as an offensive attack against his opponents. The Paradise Butterflies fabricated by Lord Tensen also possess mature samples of Tan within their stingers.

Humans who receive Flower Tao first experience Arborification. Giving into the blissful trance and blooming of Arborfication will result in failure to acquire a regenerative body. The only known way for a human to overcome the effects of Arborification and acquire Flower Tao is to be on the verge of death, a state in which Tao is not being consumed by activities that involves living, and have a strong will to survive, which will balance out both their Tao and the foreign Tao in their body. This perfect fusion of Tao is known as **Hybridization** (混じった, *Majitta*). Once a being possesses Flower Tao they will develop a plant ovule within their tanden. A clear sign of someone bearing Flower Tao is whenever their sclera turns dark.

### Levels of Regeneration

In some cases, the level of Flower Tao regeneration varies between users.

#### Standard

Ju Fa's upper body regenerating.Chōbei's arms repairing themselves from internal damage.The markings of Flower Tao regeneration for humans.
The standard level for Flower Tao regeneration is an incapability of being killed through any normal means, with the speed of activation being a few moments or seconds upon taking damage. For humans, signs of Flower Tao healing are represented by dark vines that eventually disappear overtime. For Tensens, artificial humanoids partially created from Flower Tao, are brought back with flower vines restoring what was lost. There appears to be no limit as to how many times a being can regenerate with Flower Tao. For example, Zhu Jin was able to be brought back after their body was cut by Shion 215 times. According to Mei, her kind is capable of going beyond this, being able to regenerate up to 1,000 times.

#### Low

Low-level Flower Tao regeneration is shown to be limited to regenerating missing limbs and healing injuries. For the Dōshi, the Sennin could easily be killed if their entire heads were targeted or if their bodies were incinerated by fire, a weakness that did not present to be a problem for Tensens or Flower Tao bearing humans. Due to having consumed a small sample of the Elixir of Life, Yamada Asaemon Shugen did not acquire the supposed immortality the perfected Tan elixir could grant and had only gained a resilient body with a low healing factor.

## Weaknesses

Beings with Flower Tao are greatly affected by the hindering reaction of the Five Elements known as Sōkoku. When engaged in battle, if a bearer of Flower Tao were to fight against a Tao user with the inferior elemental attribute compared to their own, the Flower Tao user will have a form of resistance over their attacks, making their victory assured. However, if a Tao user possesses the element that is the natural enemy of the Flower Tao bearer's, the Tao user is capable of weakening their regeneration with Tao-enhanced attacks. Flower Tao users will ultimately be killed if their plant ovule, located within their tanden, is destroyed. There are also other methods in how to go about fighting a Flower Tao user using the hindering cycle:

* Strategically, instead of being the one to finish off the Flower Tao user, the individual with the hindering attribute can choose to hold down their opponent to weaken their Tao while an ally makes the attack to their enemy, thereby still maintaining the same rules as the hindering cycle. This was shown when Fuchi decided to weaken Tao Fa's Wood Tao with his Metal Tao by restraining her from behind while Gantetsusai made the cut through her tanden. This strategy however can be perceived as being risky since the attacker would have to be careful as to not harm the hinderer in the process.
* The person with the hindering attribute can be used as a living weapon by having their partner hold them by their feet. This method was thought up by Gabimaru by using Sagiri as a human sword against Rien. This strategy, however, was pointed out to be too irrational.

Aside from the hindering cycle, if a Flower Tao user continues to take too much damage their regeneration speed will be reduced due to their body exerting too much Tao. For humans, the more they regenerate the more they will have to resist the vines within their bodies from spreading and taking over to prevent Arborification. In special cases for conscious Arborified beings, such as Hōko, they will inevitably become a tree and lose consciousness the greater the damage done to their bodies. After being beheaded by Mu Dan, Hōko could not regenerate his entire body and was gradually growing bark from the top of his head.

## Trivia

* Humans acquiring the powers of Flower Tao is considered an act of losing one's humanity.
* According to Mei, a Tensen's Tao is at its weakest during the night due to the nature of nyctinasty, which also applies to the Banko. It is unknown if this weakness applies to all Flower Tao users.
* In the case that both opponents are Flower Tao users that follow the cycle of Sōsei, the two beings enter into a stalemate in battle where neither one can weaken the others regeneration powers; as seen with the fight between Gabimaru and Rien who both could regenerate from the other's attacks.
* Despite Flower Tao guaranteeing that the user's body is restored exactly the way it was, Gabimaru's hair did not return to its original volume after Sagiri freed him from Arborification by cutting off his head and limbs. A possible assumption would be that Sagiri took the liberty of cutting it herself after Gabimaru's head was fully formed and while the shinobi was still unconscious.
	+ This also implies that Flower Tao will not respond unless flesh and blood is included in the body's loss.