-1 month ter-
(Small reminder that English means "{using these brackets to speak}")
Pov: Ryū
"Yes! Yes!" I pump my fist in excitement as Kanata uses his lightning to deflect the Lightning shinobi's ninjutsu barrage perfectly.
"Calm down will you- you're embarrassing me in front of my client boss" Shuzo yawns as he points up and at the Tsuchikage in the Kage box behind us.
"Psh- lighten up will you, and won't calling me 'boss' jeopardize your 'spy' mission?" I smirk.
"Woah- whoa- whoa- I am a masseuse now boss, I quit your carnival a while ago- stop trying to drag me back" He pokes my shoulder and to my dismay that poke actually hurts.
"Oh so now you care about lying huh? Then why did you tell Akemi that I was a widower with three daughters!" I whisper yell at him and he stifles a ugh.
"Just Akemi huh? Say, are you getting attached Ryū?" He smiles... but his eyes don't.
"Don't start Shuzo-" I whisper at him.
"Are you Ryū?" Akemi leans over and gnces at me.
... shit.
"{Twenty eight year old body, early thirties mind and an old, old soul}" I tell Shuzo.
"{A certain person made that body- an idiots brain, and a tortured and tormented soul that should be resting}" Shuzo counters.
...
"{He won't like this Ryū- despite our... dislike of who we were that certain person is still out there}" Shuzo scolds me.
"{And you? You and your new view on life? If you think I can't tell how distant your gaze is you are terribly wrong Shuzo}" I reply.
"{So we are both in the wrong then? Forgetting his pns and leaving him to rot in that organisation while we turn our backs?}" Shuzo says.
"{So you agree with me?}" I ask him.
...
"{He... doesn't have anything. I have grown past what happened in our youth and I can live life just giving massages and meditating... you obviously seem attached to that dy and to the battle sages, even the Hokage and the ninja you travel with- He doesn't have anything... and is clinging to a list of things to enact violence on as his life goal... when he left Konoha he decided to continue doing what oppressed him in the first pce... he should have split and lived like us... he sees the masked man visiting him as luck when I see it as terrible luck- is... turning our backs now so terrible? Just because he wants to stay in the mud doesn't mean we should drag ourselves down with him...}" Shuzo sighs deeply after his talk.
"Certainly not wrong..." I think deeply as I turn my gaze to the stadium and watch Kanata use his skills.
...
"Fine- you are fired Shuzo" I tell him and hold out my hand.
"{What? Fired?}" He asks in bewilderment.
"{Just py along, I know your flesh well enough to make and break a seal for a quick show}" I mumble to him.
He pces his hand on mine and I pour a small dose of lightning into his hand... a seal weaves its way around his arm and I dissolve it.
All that does is show anyone watching that I broke a seal, they cannot tell if the seal was made in that moment due to the use of natural lightning chakra instead of normal chakra.
...
"Thank you" Shuzo states with a smile and we both turn to the stadium again.
"What was that?" Akemi asks me.
"Nothing of note" I sniffle and she nods her head before turning forward.
...
*Zzzzt!* *Bang!*
Kanata is struck with an intense burst of lightning from his opponent... but channels that lightning up his arm and points backwards.
*BOOM!*
Directing the lightning into the stadium wall behind him.
"Its done now, Kanata is far too close for comfort" Akemi comments and I watch as Kanata's legs light up before flinging himself forward and kicking the lightning shinobi in the head.
...
The opposing shinobi does not get back up.
"Kanata wins!" The crowd cheers as Kanata stands tall and turns off his lightning cloak.
As the crowd cheers and Kanata bows to the stadium.
"Our next match shall be between Neji Hyuga of Konoha! And Katsuko of Konoha!" The examiner tells the stadium and I slump in my seat while sighing.
"What? She might win" Shuzo pokes me in the side... it still hurts.
"She used up her lightning st match and Neji is not known for being weak in Melee" I shake my head.
...
"I forfeit!" She raises her hand and Neji bows as the crowd cheers.
"Good- great" I nod to myself, in the Chunin exams that was the best decision she could have made.
---
-Later that night-
Pov: Shuzo
"One! Two! Three! Go!" I call and watch as the Raikage and Ryū arm wrestle with their lightning cloaks on.
...
As long as Ryū loses nothing bad politically will happen... and maybe everyone here is too drunk to notice anything politically dangerous is happening right now.
*sip*
Not my problem at least.
"Ow- ow! Hey, about that bet...?" Ryū slowly loses the advantage and awkwardly smiles.
"Oh? Our bet? You aren't thinking of going back on it are you?" A retorts with a booming ugh.
"Who me? No...? Unless?" Ryū coughs a little.
And not a moment ter his arm sms into the table, everyone cheers and passes around their bets.
..? Oh- so he is aware of what he is doing, Ryū seems more than capable of standing against the legendary cloak of lightning so this must be a trick.
"Come on Shuzo- the Tsuchikage is done and we are heading home" A stone ninja tells me and I pce my cup down before following him.
"Did he end his meeting with the Hokage?" I ask.
"Yes, it went well" the man tells me.
"So i see... it will be quite the boon for both vilges to help little old me" I smile.
...
Silence again? Well, with everything they know about me it does make sense for them to keep their guard up for quite some time, especially considering the Tsuchikage's request.
I sigh thinking about it- all of this political talk and taking down one of the legendary sannin just for a massage from me?
I know and understand the actual value I have in my fingertips but it feels jarring looking at it from every other point of view.
All in all I couldn't ask for more.
This is a lot more than just rexing... but it isn't the horror that I usually get up to- I am afraid that I will find this... fun.
And after that fun... when all is said and done.
...
...
...
I think.
I think I will try and fully detach myself from all mortal attachments- my meditation skill is one such way to do it.
Maybe I am mad... no, it is almost impossible to call me sane- but I wish to stop caring about all that stressful stuff.
I want to forget it.
Danzo.
Madara.
Kenzo.
Konoha.
Torture!
Pain!
Suffering!
Monster!
I.
Want.
Fun.
I smile to myself just thinking about it.
---
Pov: Kenzo
*SLASH!* *CARVE* *SNAP!*
"Heeelp!! Help us!!! Let us out!" A target bangs on the door and screams to the hallway.
*SMASH!* *SHIFT* *CRACK!*
"Its no use! His partner is out there!" Another target calls as I sughter his friend.
*BUCKLE!* *BEND!* *BREAK!*
"ARRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" One of my targets scream as they crawl away from me... legs no longer working.
*SPURT!* *DRIP!* *SPLASH!*
Blood flies around the room of Jonin as I jump from one end to the other slowly but surely taking them out one by one with shifted forms.
*STAB!*
A spider like arm made of bone pierces the torso of one of them.
*CRUSH!*
A mace made of bone flings put from my flesh whip like arm and breaks into the skull of one of the Jonin.
"What are you!?!?!" Someone hugs the wall as I shift my body into that of a monster.
"Haven't you heard?" I coldly call out as I approach him.
"Your- the- the" They shiver under their own fear.
"Monster" I finish his sentence and- *CHOMP!* bite down on his head.
...
I turn to the rest in my nightmare creature form and shift eyes into its skull.
I haven't even stared at them and they fear me still... well... its not like the main purpose of my gaze is to scare people, I can do that fine on my own.
*ROOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!!*
I bellow out with all my might as I let every fibre of my being shake with violent energy.
*BAM!*
I jump forward and spt another head across the wall- I sm down onto another terrified human and shift a tail to stab into someone else behind me.
*CLAW!* *SLASH!* *STAB!*
My sughter is ended with one more life taken... I knock on the door precisely once- Kakazu opens it to see my blood covered form and the room not looking any better.
"Are we done?" He asks.
"Yes, the head rests within me" I point to my stomach and slowly shift the head out of my body.
"Perfect- I will take him to the bounty office... I recommend you take a break" Kakazu grabs the head and pces it in a bag before slowly walking through the hallway of ninja he has just sughtered himself.
I use a quick few jutsu to clean myself up before turning back to watch his figure leave.
"Understood" I nod my head and hold my wrist upwards.
I dig two fingers inside and slowly shift a scroll out of it, I open it and out pops my uniform.
Pcing it on I then turn to one of the windows in the hallway and flicker outwards, hopping over a few walls and trees... past the fortress boundary and out into the open.
It takes me a moment but I listen intently for three people tracking me- Hunters from mist, probably because I just sughtered the mist Jonin they were overlooking.
*Flicker!* *Flicker!*
Two appear next to me and start performing a set of handsigns, I close my eyes and listen closely... before suddenly pushing my legs backwards and jumping away from two jet streams of water that trace after me.
*Crash!*
I nd on the dirt and the ground breaks around me as I look around for the st hunter-nin.
*Step!*
My ears twitch and I flinch out of the way of a senbon attack- aimed right for my neck.
*Flicker* *Flicker* *Flicker*
They all nd around me and do not hesitate to attack me, two using jutsu and one throwing another senbon my way.
I sp away the senbon and create a bck bone tower shield to block the barrage of water from one side as I shift another arm out of my chest and create a bck bone buckler to block the three water bullets attempting to catch me off guard.
*SNAP!~*
I snap my fingers and momentarily focus on the senbon ninja- my mind enters his and I slowly pick it apart and repce what he sees with what I want him to see.
The Senbon ninja throws two senbon at the water bullet ninja and he attempts to defend himself without hurting his teammate.
I shift away the buckler and lick my lips as I turn my head to the barraged tower shield I shift my other arm.
*Crack!* *Snap!* *Warp!*
Bones soften and disconnect... some vanish and are repced with muscle... my arm stretches and elongates into a whip... my hand splits and turns into a bone cw.
I flex my muscles and fling my other arm around my tower shield to meet the target- closing my eyes I listen intently and picture the scene behind this shield.
My cw misses my target... but my muscles that pass by the target suddenly flex and turn my cw onto him- scratching at his face the water pouring from his mouth stops and I grip his neck from afar.
Lowering my shield and adding bone to my fleshy arm I turn it from a whip into a stronger structure that can apply more strength.
I notice the Senbon user break from my genjutsu and as I hold his hunter friend by his neck and I grow another arm and deflect two senbon attacks.
*SLASH!*
But the other hunter-nin gets in close while I was distracted and cuts deep with a water made bde.
*SLAM!*
I suddenly elongate that new arm with sudden speed and crash it into the ground that the hunter-nin was just sliding upon before he substituted out.
I shift away the arm as nothing but a log was crushed and I reel in the other hunter-nin in my grasp.
"Can't we py nice?" I temporarily shift away my deep wound and let yin energy flow from my voice into the ears of the strangled hunter.
...
I add one little genjutsu into his mind and throw him at the other two.
*Crash!* they dodge as he is thrown into a tree and both a water bullet and one senbon are thrown my way.
*Step!*
I step forward as my body humanizes and-
*Clink!* *Bshhh!*
The senbon flies past my chest while the water bullet is deflected with perfect use of my chakra.
The hunter nin I threw gets up and grasps his throat as he breaths in some air before turning to his teamates and back at me.
"Retreat?" He asks.
"... No, not yet- py defensive for now" another hunter nin responds and I sigh.
I flicker my unyielding gaze for a moment and the other two flicker back to group with the third- the third ninja grabbing both of them and supporting them as he kneels down from the pressure I exude.
I stop my unyielding gaze and clench my side... groaning as my wound opens up again... an act obvious to me and me alone.
"Careful- could be a trick" The ninja gets up and grabs his teamates necks before pushing his teamates away from him to avoid grouping up.
They both rub their necks in confusion but the Senbon user rubs his fingers together and gasps suddenly.
"Quick- he has" He doesn't finish his sentence as I cut him off with an effortless jump towards him.
*SLASH!*
My arm into a bde I ssh violently and pce my wound away once more, I barrage him with multiple attacks and as I do I weave genjutsu through the sounds of sharp bone cutting air.
I jump backwards and dodge a water bullet plus the other hunter ninjas lightning needle- the senbon ninja struggles to speak as my genjutsu takes over.
The genjutsu I cast wasn't meant to be unnoticed- just a wall of constant chakra that the target needs to remove before speaking again.
*Spsh!* *Spsh!*
Two water bullets threaten me and I jump upwards to avoid them- *WUSSSHHHHH* And a stream of powerful water attempts to take me out of the sky.
*Crash!*
I sm into a tree and fall to the ground before being barraged by yet another set of water bullets- I shift a shield and hold it high only to be met with five senbon at my side as the hunter nin desperately tries to sign to his other teammates.
I get up under the barrage and slowly walk to the hunter nin as my shield takes hit after hit- I sp away his senbon and he finally breaks through the genjutsu.
"Take an antidote- he has poisoned us!" He yells out and I smirk at him as I lower my shield.
Too te.
The water stops and he opens his eyes wide as the two ninja stand paralyzed- I poisoned the strangled ninja... who subconsciously rubbed his neck and then applied the poison to the other two.
And unfortunately for this ninja here he couldn't keep their attention to sign in time when I was in the equation... when one is met with my gaze often the greeted panic... often those who meet of my gaze make terrible mistakes.
They simply didn't look his way.
*Crack* *Shift!*
I shift my body back to normal and fix up my singlet to fit it naturally, tying my robe around my waist tighter I walk slowly towards the st hunter.
*Plink!* *Cck!* *Tack!*
He throws senbon after senbon... but they deflect off of me and into the dirt surrounding me- I reach him as he backs into a tree and I smile with primal teeth.
"Go home, its time for little rabbits to run" I stop within an inch of his face and coldly speak.
When I am with Kakazu I will do what I must... but with these hunters? I will let them live... after all it is only natural for a hunter to hunt the monster.
... he gulps and sweats like crazy, enough for me to notice through his mask... before dashing away from me and grabbing his two friends.
Haaa- I suppose I must find somepce to stay for the night, lets head south since these hunters were nearby and I didn't notice.
I shift the scroll out and seal away my equipment before turning into a bird and flying away into the night...
I subconsciously focus on myself.
------
Kenzo Skills:
Unyielding Stare: E×D×C×B×A×S×K×
Word- Truth: E×D×C×B?A?S?K?
Kenzo Deflection Jutsu: E×D×C×B×A×S×K?
Yin-Picking: E×D×C×B×A?S?K? (+1)
Ancient Hearing: E×D×C×B?A?S?K?
Improv Taijutsu: E×D×C×B×A×S?K? (+4)
Effortless Jump: E×D×C×B×A?S?K? (+1)
Poisonous Touch: E×D×C×B×A?S?K?
_______
Blessings:
[Kenzo] Shapeshifting: C×B×A×S?K? (+1)
[Kenzo] Genjutsu Resonance: E×D×C? (+1)
[Kenzo] Split Selves: K×
_______
Kenzo Statistics:
Natural Regeneration +5(Can trade -1 Regen for +5 Mana)
Strength +9
Hearing +3 (+2)
------
Many changes in just one month... I suppose that's due to the hell I have been through recently.
I improved my hearing due to this stupid mission, needing to hear through an entire stone wall was necessary.
I managed to train my resonance to a higher level with all the genjutsu I have been casting recently, I at least can use it much faster than before allowing for many more uses during battle.
Alongside that I have gotten a hold on my shifting, the system has acknowledged this by letting me know I am at A-rank with its usage.
Jump went up to B-rank... I didn't necessarily need it but I came across the scroll and it certainly hasn't been a terrible addition- and its mortal limit broke through so that's good, now I am learning how to jump as great with minimum use of my body...
I grabbed the touch skill like the system wanted- at first it was weird being able to feel things so vividly and being able to tell exactly what I was touching without seeing it... but I do like it... and with some chakra it becomes soaked in a poison that slowly paralyzes someone... I tend not to use it, saving it for a surprise I suppose.
Yin-picking was lockpicking... that was a powerful tool I didn't know I needed until now and I will keep it hidden until I do need it truly- being able to weave my yin energy into someone else's and cast genjutsu has always been avaible to me with my resonance... but with this? My genjutsu go from B-rank standard to A-rank easily and perhaps further as my skills progress.
And without using any scrolls I have increased my improv taijutsu by four levels... I must say it is due to my constant use of the Gai challenge scroll.
Speaking of- I nd at a quiet spot about one hour out from my recent fight and find a good hiding pce... I know I need some rest after that... terrible mission- but the situation I am in requires constant training.
I cannot break here. Not now.
I close my eyes and open them to the Konoha stadium- looking towards my target he stands ready to fight me.
...
I will push you into the sixth gate today- even if that victory is harboured on the fact that I have memorized your every move within this scroll and like a time loop have almost every advantage against you.
... could I push him that far without this advantage of mine? Maybe... that's for another time.
I crack my knuckles and shift my arm into a flesh whip, muscles slowly wrap into a perfect weapon with a bck bone give at the end... I also prepare my thorn armour of bone.
I will only spar twenty times before rest.
*WOOOSH!* *SLAM!*
Thanks for reading! :)
